Transformers Prime: Revolution (REBOOT)
by Prima's Fiction
Summary: After Optimus Prime sacrifices himself to give new life to Cybertron, the Autobots have seemingly achieved their goal of peace on their homeworld. If only it were that easy. Despite Megatron's call for the Decepticons to disband, many still remain unaccounted for. Shockwave and Starscream secretly gather their own army, and now wield the potential to seize Cybertron from their foe.
1. Chapter 1: Darkmount's Secret

**Author's Notes: Hello and welcome to the reboot of my old TFP fan fic! I'm sorry for the confusion and wait if you were reading the original but there was a lot that I thought could be improved with the story, and here we are nearly two years later! I was originally thinking of making this fit into the continuity of RiD as well but in the end decided not to restrict myself with an already broken continuity. So this is my love letter to the show that means so much to myself and many others, I hope you enjoy! ;)**

Starscream was running. Running as fast as his servos could carry him.

He panted and yelped as the three beastly Predacons pursued him, roaring and snarling after their prey.

The hallways of Darkmount seemed endless, a labyrinth of metal and rust. Starscream desperately scanned the corridors for an exit but found himself stuck on the same unending path.

Curse Shockwave and his stupid creations! If that lugnut of a scientist had died when he was supposed to then his life would be so much easier. They already had control of Earth. What need did the Decepticons have for an unruly beast among their ranks?!

But while Starscream gave partial blame to Shockwave for his current predicament, one bot above all others infuriated him beyond belief: Megatron. The once powerful warlord, who lead entire armies to conquest across countless worlds had now renounced violence and gone into exile. Starscream swore that he would one day have his revenge on that selfish coward, wherever he may be.

Putting aside his plans for revenge, Starscream tried to bargain with the pursuing Predacons. "Wait!" He yelped whilst running. "It was Megatron who betrayed you! He was the one who ordered the destruction of your brethren! He's the one you want revenge on, not me!"

The largest Predacon's body altered itself, forming the imposing figure of Predaking. Without faltering, he fully transformed into his bipedal form and charged after his prey. "Indeed I shall have Megatron's hide, but first I must repay you for your unjust malevolence!"

Starscream whimpered yet again as he was chased further into Darkmount. "Help! Shockwave! Are you still alive?" He spoke into his comlink. Nothing but static responded. "Grrrha! Curse you Knock Out!" He cried, ripping the damaged comlink out of his audio receptor, frustrated at the fact that it could be damaged by a simple whack on the head with the Immobiliser.

The Predacons were closing in on him, snarling and biting at his heels. Seeing how close they were, Starscream cried out once more. "Argh! Scrap! Help!"

Just as he thought it was over Starscream saw the ceiling ahead shifting and an omnipotent voice sounded across the corridor from the fortress' computer systems. "Voiceprint identified as Commander Starscream. Assistance requested." The ceiling continued to change until two turrets emerged from within it. "Unauthorized lifeforms detected." The voice stated as the turrets turned to face the Predacons. "Engaging hostiles." The turrets whirred before unleashing a torrent of bullets at the three beasts, peppering their metal hides. The Predacons roared in fury, breathing fire at the turrets. The flames engulfed the weapons but they didn't falter, continuing to fire despite their smoking exterior.

With the Predacons' attention diverted to the turrets, Starscream smirked at his good fortune and took the opportunity to retaliate. Raising his arm in the direction of Predaking, Starscream launched one of his missiles at his foe, striking him directly in the chest and causing an explosion that filled the dim hallway.

Predaking roared in pain and rage as he fell to his knees. Before he could recover, Starscream fired another missile at the Predacons, striking the floor at their feet and causing the trio to fall backwards. Still under fire from the turrets above, Predaking, coughing and sputtering made his call. "Come my brothers!" He called out to Skylynx and Darksteel. "We will deal with our enemy another time."

Briefly glowering at Starscream, Predaking tore a hole in the wall of Darkmount's corridor before leaping out and transforming, flying out into the night along with his fellow Predacons. The turrets stopped firing. "Threat neutralized." The computer sounded before the weaponry was retracted into the ceiling again.

Starscream walked up to the opening that Predaking had made, watching the three Cybertronian reptiles fly into the night. He chuckled. "Who's the coward now you ignorant beast? Know that it was Starscream who defeated you!"

After smirking at the retreating Predacons for a few moments, Starscream eventually turned his attention to his other concerns. "Now, let's see what treasures Megatron left in his old fortress. So I may in turn use them to enact my conquest and revenge!" He declared to himself before walking down the darkened corridor, hands rested behind his back.

After an extremely long-winded search through Darkmount's weapon depot Starscream began to grow irritated. "Uhh! Everything here is rust! Not even a single functioning Neutron assault rifle! How am I supposed to reunite the Decepticons when I don't even possess the firepower to level a small Earth city!?" He complained, throwing his fist against the wall in frustration.

Unwittingly, Starscream's fit of anger caused another doorway to open across the corridor. The Seeker looked up at the newly formed opening with a raised eyebrow, approaching the room with caution. It was no different from the others. Rusted Cybertronian weaponry lined the walls in racks, and the dull grey floor was coated with a thin layer of orange corrosion. But exclusive to this room was the gaping hole in the ceiling that allowed the moonlight to shine through, illuminating the dim interior of the Decepticon fortress. However it was what lay beneath the opening that caused Starscream to gasp in shock.

Sprawled underneath the gaping hole, illuminated by Cybertronian moonlight lay a familiar Decepticon. Though in stasis, the figure still managed to intimidate. A wide torso connected to four powerful limbs, complete with an oval shaped head that bore a menacing yellow visor. The shoulders and lower legs donned oversized wheels, making the Decepticon appear even bigger and more threatening. Starscream couldn't believe his optics. This was the body of the master tactician and Combaticon leader, Onslaught.

Starscream's look of shock soon turned into a smug grin. He cackled at the stasis-locked body of the old Decepticon soldier. "Look at how things have changed!" He gloated. "Sadly, I have no need for one of Megatron's fanatics in my army. Consider yourself..." He leaned in closer towards Onslaught's face. "...Discharged." He finished with a smile and slight chuckle before turning and strutting out of the room, a smug look on his face.

However, Starscream heard a set of familiar footsteps echoing down the corridor. Recognizing who it was Starscream desperately searched for a way to seal the door behind him before composing himself as the figure rounded the corner.

"Ah. Shockwave." Starscream greeted the Decepticon cyclops as he approached. "What brings you to this fine fortress on such a wonderful evening?"

Shockwave's single red optic optic oscillated slightly. "Where are the Predacons?" He inquired.

Starscream smirked at the scientist. "Sadly, I had to drive your pets off."

"Alone?" Shockwave raised an imaginary eyebrow.

"Well, I may have had a little help from Darkmount's defence systems..." Starscream responded in a smaller voice.

"So the fortress is still operational even after thousands of stellar cycles. What else have you found that may be of use?"

Starscream suddenly became a little nervous. "All I found in this weapon depot was some old, rusty equipment. The rest must have been taken off-world when we left Cybertron. Now why don't we look somewhere else?"

Shockwave narrowed his optic, seeing straight through Starscream's guise. "What did you find?" He simply asked, causing Starscream to become even more flustered.

"No-one! Erm. Nothing!" He waved his hands about frantically. "I've already looked this place up and down, there is nothing here!"

Shockwave suddenly grabbed Starscream by the arm, bringing him up close. "Show me. Do not make me force it out of you." Shockwave threatened, his voice containing a hint of anger.

Starscream gasped and struggled, unable to break free from Shockwave's iron grip. "Fine! See for yourself!" He pointed at the room where Onslaught lay.

Shockwave turned his attention to the doorway in question and let go of Starscream, who rubbed his aching arm and grumbled. The Decepticon scientist calmly strode into the room that Starscream had directed him to and also found himself to be somewhat surprised. "Oh." He simply said, seeing the still body of Onslaught sprawled over the floor.

Shockwave knelt down beside the fallen Decepticon, examining the body. Starscream stood by the doorway, watching the scientist. "Well?" He asked. "Is he dead?"

Shockwave got to his feet and looked back at Starscream. "Negative. I will require your assistance to transport him to the laboratory below, where I will be able to bring him out of stasis-lock."

"What?! But you can't! There's no way he'll follow me! Do you not remember how he tried to kill me?!"

Shockwave remained unaffected by Starscream's concerns. "He will not follow you because you will not be in command. I will." Starscream's eyes widened. "But do not worry. You have proven yourself to be a useful asset to the Decepticon cause, so I will vouch for you, but only if you acknowledge my command."

Starscream grumbled to himself about the difficult situation he had somehow gotten into. "Very well." He reluctantly responded. "But what of Megatron?"

"I am aware of his betrayal, and he will be dealt with in time. But the Autobots are too disorganised to effectively control Cybertron, so we must first relieve them of command in favour of a more logical option."

Starscream rolled his eyes at the use of the word 'logic' but nonetheless agreed. "Of course"

"Good. Move Onslaught to the laboratory in the lower levels, while I restore power by repairing the energon refinement valves." Shockwave told him before walking out of the room to complete his task.

When Shockwave had left, Starscream spoke to himself. "Very well Shockwave, I'll play your little game for now. But when the opportunity arises, I will not hesitate to take your place." Starscream looked at the body of Onslaught, wondering how his life had become this complicated and against his better judgement, reluctantly began to move the large Decepticon to the lab below.

**Author's Notes: I hope that you somewhat enjoyed my first chapter. I will try to update this as often as I can but feel free to leave a review/comment as that lets me know that my story is being read! All feedback (as long as it's civil) is welcome and it's always useful to have a little nudge so I work harder to update and improve! Until next time! ;)**


	2. Chapter 2: The Awakening

**Author's Notes: So I'm back with another chapter! I hope you enjoy as this took longer to write than I anticipated. If anyone wants to become a beta reader to help me check over my work then feel free to pm me or something. ;)**

After a gruelling hour of dragging Onslaught's body to Darkmount's laboratory Starscream was ready for a well-earned rest. But as usual, he could never have what he wanted.

Suddenly Darkmount's power was restored, lights flickering on around the lab, illuminating the otherwise dim interior of the fortress. Starscream sat down on a work bench and groaned at the ceiling. "Shockwave, you don't waste any time do you?" He muttered to himself.

Before long the Decepticon scientist himself strode into the lab. "I have successfully restored Darkmount's power but it may be some time before all systems are brought back online." He explained to Starscream.

"Wonderful Shockwave, very logical of you." Came the sarcastic, half-hearted reply.

Shockwave ignored the Seeker's tone. "Indeed. I should now be able to revive Onslaught."

"Ughhh Great."

The Decepticon cyclops moved to activate a computer console near where Onslaught lay, and continued on to re-initiate the lab's main systems in preparation for the operation. The console's screen lit up purple, bearing the Decepticon insignia as it booted up. Shockwave continued to work as Starscream stood, nervously tapping his fingers on one of the work benches.

Eventually, Shockwave broke the silence. "Starscream, I will require your assistance in moving Onslaught to the operating table." Starscream reluctantly complied and they both managed to move the unconscious Decepticon onto a plain, grey berth with a resounding clunk.

The scientist pulled a dangling cable from the ceiling and connected it to Onslaught's chest, directly above his spark chamber. After tapping a few commands into the nearby console, the cable lit up blue and Shockwave prepared to pull a lever to his right.

"Wait!" Shockwave stopped and looked over to Starscream, who had interrupted him. "Err... Have you performed this procedure before? I mean, what if it doesn't work?" Starscream inquired, trying to put off the operation at the last minute.

Shockwave simply turned back to the console. "I find your concerns to be most...illogical." He responded before pulling down on the lever.

Electricity coursed throughout the lab, preparing the equipment for the operation as a now familiar computerised voice sounded. "Commencing Energon infusion in 3, 2, 1." Energon flowed through the cable from the ceiling and into Onslaught's body, causing him to convulse slightly. Starscream stepped back in fear as the room became bathed in the blue glow of energon while Shockwave simply watched, with a scientific interest.

Colour began returning to the Decepticon's body, the once faded hues revealing themselves as blues and greens. His insignia on his chassis began to glow slightly as his spark came out of hibernation before his visor lit up yellow as his optics opened from behind it.

Onslaught roared as he awoke, bolting upright and tearing the energon tube from his torso, causing it to leak over the lab. Starscream shrunk back further into the room as the large Decepticon leaped from the berth and readied his fists, looking for a fight.

"Prepare to die Auto- what?!" He bellowed before realizing that his foe was nowhere to be seen. Onslaught lowered his fists to his sides and noticed Shockwave standing next to him. "Shockwave?! What happened?! Where am I?!" He asked in confusion. His voice was low and gruff, typical of a military commander but had an edge to it that made the listener wonder if he was suddenly going to explode in a fit of rage.

Shockwave gestured to the room around him. "You are in one of Darkmount's laboratories in Kaon. We found you in stasis-lock on the upper levels. Do you recall how you came to find your self there?"

Onslaught stood there, still slightly confused. "No. I- Wait. We?" He raised an invisible eyebrow.

Starscream moved out of the shadows, chuckling nervously. "That would be me and Shockwave." He said, avoiding contact with Onslaught's glare.

"Starscream!" He growled. "It's about time I finished you off!" Onslaught began marching towards the Seeker, who was once again prepared to run for his life.

"Enough!" Shockwave ordered, placing a hand in front of Onslaught, halting his charge. "It has been some time since you were last online Onslaught and there have been many developments over that time. Starscream has been granted amnesty for his crimes."

"On who's authority?" Onslaught shot back.

"Megatron himself issued the pardon."

Onslaught stood there for a moment, still staring at Starscream as the information sunk in. "Very well." He begrudgingly replied, still wishing to wring the Seeker's neck who stood far away wringing his hands.

"Now what do you recollect?" Shockwave asked again.

Onslaught closed his optics for a moment, delving into the past.

Many stellar cycles before the Autobots and Decepticons found their way to Earth, a fierce battle waged above Cybertron between the flagships of either side: the Ark and the Nemesis. Artillery from both ships shattered the silence of space as the two of them drew along side each other.

A silver and red Autobot jet flew between the two ships, destroying the cables that the Decepticons were using to bridge the gap to the Ark. After the last one was destroyed, the flier transformed and spoke into his comlink. "Optimus this is Jetfire. All boarding cables have been destroyed but- whoa!" He was suddenly interrupted as a leviathan of a Decepticon shot past him and towards the Autobot ship.

The giant Decepticon landed into the deck of the Ark with a tectonic bang and used a rotor blade on his arm to slice up an unlucky Autobot in his path. The being rose to his full height, which was at least six stories and activated the flamethrower on his arm. The Autobots on the deck stood terrified in front of the giant, their standard weaponry doing nothing more than anger the Decepticon. This was the combined form of the Combaticons and Decepticon supersoldier known as Bruticus.

"Bruticus smash!" He roared, stamping on and crushing several Autobot soldiers. Wading through streams of enemy fire, Bruticus did not falter as he stomped towards the Ark's engines.

After ploughing through wave after wave of Autobots, Bruticus finally reached his destination. The giant tore off the armoured plating of the engine, exposing various tanks and tubes all filled with energon. The Decepticon simply drove his fist into one of the tanks, causing the entire engine to explode in his face. Unfazed by the destruction, Bruticus continued to taunt his opponents. "Hah! This isn't even fair." He gloated while continuing to wreck havoc across the top deck of the Ark.

Just as he'd thought victory was assured, Bruticus noticed a small white Autobot with a blue visor in front of his optics approach.

"Whoa Bruticus." The white Autobot called out in a smooth African-American-like accent. "You are even uglier up close."

The giant Decepticon turned and growled at his new adversary. "How nice. The little Autobot wants to play!" He began to spin the rotor blade on his arm and continued to march towards the Autobots.

The white Autobot took a step back away from the blade. "Oh there is no way I'm breaking through that!" He spoke into his comlink. "Jetfire! We could do with a little support down here!"

A silver and red Cybertronian jet soared above the battle. "Roger that Jazz! I'll go get some more fliers, but in the meantime all I can give you is this EMP mine!" The response crackled over the Autobot's comlink as the jet overheard dropped a glowing blue orb onto Bruticus, causing the giant to groan and become disoriented.

After seeing and hearing Jetfire's response, Jazz prepared to face the titan. "Just don't keep me waiting too long flyboy." Was his reply before using a grappling hook on his arm to leap onto Bruticus' shoulder and unloading multiple rounds right into the giant's face.

The huge Decepticon roared on pain, shaking the Autobot off. With the titan still disoriented, Jazz took another opportunity to wrap his grappling hook around Bruticus' leg before pulling it with all his might. The titan roared as he lost his balance, falling into his back with a crash.

Jazz admired his handiwork for a moment before contacting Jetfire again. "Bruticus is down! I'd take him out now before the big lug gets back up if I were you."

"Ok Jazz, we'll take it from here." The flier replied, closing in on the titan with his squadron.

As Bruticus managed to recover slightly, rising to his knees, he was suddenly hit with a storm of missiles and explosive rounds from Jetfire's squadron. The titan roared as the force of the onslaught caused him to fly off the Ark and towards the planet below, taking pieces of the ship with him as he fell.

Bruticus continued to writhe and roar as Cybertron's gravity took hold, eventually proving to be too much as the giant split into his component bots upon entering the atmosphere. The five Combaticons dropped like stones as they raced towards the planet below.

Back in Darkmount's laboratory Onslaught finished his recount of the events. "We must've disconnected because I remember losing contact with the others before everything went black."

"So it would seem that the other Combaticons are somewhere here as well." Shockwave mused.

"Maybe. But we fell all the way from orbit so they could be anywhere on Cybertron."

Shockwave thought for a moment, not wanting to act too rashly. "You shared a mental link with the other Combaticons did you not?" He asked Onslaught.

"Err. Yes. When we combined, all of our minds merged to form Bruticus. But why-?"

Shockwave cut him off. "Then I will be able to locate the remainder of your team through the link you share."

"But if they're in stasis-lock then their brain modules will be in hibernation."

"Correct. However, the link should still be able to locate a subconscious mind. The process will just take...longer."

Starscream tilted his head back and groaned at the ceiling once more, earning himself a strange look from Onslaught.

"Hmm. Sounds like a plan." Onslaught agreed. "But where is Lord Megatron?"

Starscream approached with a wicked grin, placing a hand on the Combaticon's shoulder. "Oh Onslaught. There is a lot you need to catch up on..."

**Author's Notes: If you have played the Cybertron games then the flashback will seem pretty familiar. If you haven't then I hope that I made it easy to understand what's going on. I'm thinking of a change of scene next chapter and as always feedback would be most appreciated! Until next time folks! ;)**


	3. Chapter 3: Nightmares

Arcee found herself alone, in the dark, and with no idea where she was. The ground beneath her felt soft and yet slightly coarse almost like...'grass?' She thought to herself. Somehow she was back on Earth.

A loud rumble sounded overhead before the sky was illuminated by a flash of lightning streaking across the sky. Arcee felt the cold pellets of rain patter against her metal skin, running off her armour and soaking into the ground.

She tried to make out her surroundings in the dim lighting, optics glowing in the night. Another bolt of lightning lit up the sky, allowing Arcee to make out the dark silhouette of an old stone building not too far from where she was.

The clanging of bells suddenly resounded from the building, making Arcee jump as another flash came from within the grey clouds ahead. She could now make out many stones, hundreds of them lined side by side like army of soldiers stood to attention. Another flash and she could make out etchings on the stones. She leaned on close to read the words. The flashes were becoming more frequent now, each one accompanied by a fierce growl of thunder.

As her surroundings were lit up once more, Arcee managed to read the inscription on one of the stones. She dropped to her knees with a horrifying realisation. These were graves. But the one she knelt before caused her to feel a fear unlike any the war had subjected her to. Arcee lowered her head. Among the grass and flowers, the grave bore slightly faded words that read: 'In Loving Memory of Jackson Darby'.

Arcee stared and the stone slab in unbelieving horror, still trying to process what she saw before her. As the storm tore the world to pieces around her, her's also shattered. "J-Jack?" Arcee stammered weakly with glassy optics. She felt something wet trickle down her face. Something that wasn't the rain.

Her grief soon turned to panic. No. Not again. This can't be happening. Not again. She thought to herself over and over again. Tailgate. Cliff. Jack. Everyone she was close to was gone. This was her curse, forged through her own attachment. Arcee's spark beat faster as her panic consumed her, hands gripping the grass, uprooting it. The storm became even more ferocious, lightning forking across the dark sky. Arcee saw the face she could never see again as she roared at the cruel world around her.

"JACK!"

A blinding flash of lightning obscured her vision as the beastly thunder growled at her once more.

...

Arcee awoke in a cold sweat of energon. Just a dream. She thought. No. A nightmare. Arcee looked around her darkened room from the berth she was on. Since most of the city was still in ruins, the Autobots had temporarily moved into one of the more intact residential buildings in Iacon.

Arcee hugged her knees and shuddered as endless questions plagued her mind. Could her nightmare be real? How long has it been since they left Earth? Why was she finding it so difficult to let go?

To stop herself from drowning in her own thoughts, Arcee decided to get some 'fresh air'. She got up from her berth, walking towards the exit of the small but comfortable room.

Arcee stepped out into the dim corridor. Rooms lined either side, each containing the other Autobots who were no doubt asleep. Arcee's light footsteps echoed down the hallway, the rhythmic beat breaking the silence of the night.

Arms hugging her body tight, Arcee continued down the corridor towards the balcony at the end. As she drew nearer, she began to hear voices, muffled by the door that led out.

After a brief period of hesitation, Arcee opened the metal door with an unmissable scraping sound. The view was truly breathtaking. The silhouettes of Iacon's buildings stretched out far and wide, with the only evidence of previous battles being the occasional collapsed structure. The moon shone across Cybertron's shiny metal surface, illuminating the city and almost giving the impression of lights through its windows.

Before Arcee could admire the view, she found herself face-to-face with Bulkhead and Bumblebee.

"Oh, hey Cee." Bulkhead smiled at her. "Couldn't sleep?"

Arcee was once again reminded of her nightmare. "No. Needed some air." She simply replied before perching herself on the balcony's railing, a fair distance from her comrades.

The three of them sat in silence for a few moments, staring out into the night together before Bumblebee broke it with an uncomfortable (but necessary) icebreaker.

"You've been having those dreams, haven't you?" He turned to look at Arcee.

Arcee felt her spark sink again as she heard his words. "I- What dreams?" She shyly responded, without turning to make eye contact with the other bots.

Bumblebee sighed. "You know the ones. Where you somehow find yourself back on Earth…"

"Only to realise its been years." Bulkhead finished, sadly staring into the night, chin resting on his arm.

Arcee choked back a sob as she faced away from them.

"Arcee..." Bumblebee approached her, his hand trying to rest on her shoulder as a small comfort. Arcee shrugged him off.

"I-I need to go for a walk." She said in a broken voice before taking off down the corridor at a brisk pace, trying to hide her face from the others.

Before Bumblebee could follow her Bulkhead lay a giant hand on his shoulder. "Let her go. She'll come around. She always does."

Bumblebee turned to face his friend, wondering if any of them will truly be at peace with their past. "I don't know. She lost Tailgate, and then Cliffjumper's death nearly claimed her too. Do you think that Jack...might've been the tipping point?"

Bulkhead had no response to this. They just sat there, wondering if Arcee, or any of them would ever be the same again.

**Author's Notes: A little bit of a shift in focus this chapter. Perhaps a little melodramatic, but I felt that it was important to address this issue that Predacons Rising never brought up. I hope I didn't depress anyone too much with this chapter, not all is as bad as it seems! Took me a little longer to finish but I was on holiday and stuff, so I hope I kept no-one waiting! ;)**


	4. Chapter 4: New Arrivals

The Cybertronian sun rose over the horizon, illuminating the ruins of Iacon. Arcee smiled slightly as the warmth shone across the city. She liked watching the sunrise. It gave her a new sense of hope, of energy, each time she saw the burning star rise anew. It was a chance to start again. For a new beginning. Though she still felt her previous burdens remain.

Arcee walked back into the foyer of the Autobot's temporary residence. She didn't recall much after leaving the night before. She remembered walking in the night time city with only her own misery for company. She remembered herself recalling her memories feel of Earth before her nightmare returned to plague her thoughts. After the panic and fear she remembered nothing else before waking up in the middle of the abandoned street, many hours later. 'I must've passed out' She thought, sighing. 'Come on Arcee, pull yourself together.'

She turned a corner, a new voice catching her off guard. It was Bumblebee. "Oh. Hey Arcee. Are you...ok?" He asked her with a degree of concern in his voice, wondering where she had been all night.

Before Arcee could think of a response Smokescreen charged past them both. "We've got an Autobot ship touching down at the Spaceport! Come on, let's go welcome them!" The young bot shouted without stopping. He was soon followed by the other Autobots rushing down the corridor. Arcee and Bumblebee, now distracted by the news, followed them outside.

The Autobots rushed to the slightly damaged, but still operational Iacon spaceport. Above them, a ship descended, its bronze exterior glinting in the early morning sun. It was easily as big as a large aircraft carrier, its shadow managing to completely cover the Autobots below. With a loud clunk the craft touched down on the landing pad, landing gear groaning in protest.

From beneath the ship, a ramp extended. Smoke billowed out of the opening, leaving only a few silhouettes visible in its haze.

"Sideswipe! I told you to get that fixed!" Came a calm, but slightly annoyed African-American voice.

"Hey! Its not my fault! Ironhide sat on my welding kit!" Another voice sounded from beyond the smoke. A gruff grunt was all that came as a reply.

A disappointed sigh could be heard before the first voice grumbled to himself in exasperation. "Every time I want to show off or so something cool there's always a problem."

The figures began to move down the ramp as the smoke cleared, revealing the three bots who had been arguing. One of them had white armour with a visor across his eyes, who stood only a little shorter than Bumblebee. The other was more Smokescreen's size, with a red paint job accompanied by white stripes running down his chassis, and a square jaw. The last one was a lot bigger than the rest, he stood as tall as Ultra Magnus and as large as Bulkhead. His armour was red, with dashes of black on his shoulders and legs. The big bot stood with his arms crossed and face set in a permanent scowl.

The white bot stepped forward, towards the other Autobots. "Hello Cybertron! Things look different compared to when I was last here. Someone kick out the old tennants?" He grinned at the group.

Ultra Magnus approached the new arrival. "Greetings Autobots. Jazz." He looked to the white bot. "Sideswipe, is it?" The red and white bot gave him a funny look. "And Ironhide." The big bot nodded at the commander. "We would like to welcome you all back to Cybertron. Are you the only three on board?"

Jazz shook his head as the trio made room for another dozen Autobots to exit the craft. They stretched, smiled and waved at the other Autobots as they found their way back into Cybertronian soil. "Warpath, Scattershot, Hound, Sunstreaker, Trailbreaker, Huffer. Heck, even Gears is here." Jazz introduced them to his ragtag crew of all shapes and sizes. "We picked up your signal, probably got to all Autobot ships within fifty lightyears. We just happened to be close. Nice work there doc." He nodded at Ratchet, recognising the signal broadcast as his handiwork. The medic smiled with a slight nod back. "Strange thing is, we had some cons tailing us back there, but once we entered the atmosphere they just disappeared." Jazz waved his hands for dramatic effect.

Ultra Magnus found this news most unsettling. "Hmm. That is concerning. The Decepticons may be attempting to remobilise. We will have to deal with them after you've been given a proper welcome."

"WRECKER PARTY!" Wheeljack exclaimed while barreling into Ironhide, nearly knocking the big bot over. The other Autobots also joined with the new arrivals, though in slightly less boisterous ways. Bulkhead clanged his fist against Ironhide's.

"How ya been old buddy?" He asked. "Still up to your old tricks?"

"I never lost my touch Bulk. I was always a wrecker, always will be." Came the gruff reply, before he laughed and wrapped his large arms around both Bulkhead and Wheeljack's shoulders.

While the three Wreckers had their happy reunion, Knock Out slid up to a yellow bot, who looked quite a similar to Sideswipe. "Ooh. Hello there. Nice finish. Say, are you any good with a rotary buffer?" He complimented the bot, placing an arm around him as they started to chat.

Bumblebee and Smokescreen were not having such a riveting conversation with a short red and blue bot. "So, Gears, happy to be home?" Bumblebee cautiously asked.

The short bot grunted. "Still looks like a mess. I thought you said that you won the war?" He complained.

Bumblebee folded his arms and rolled his eyes. "I see you haven't changed."

Smokescreen bent down slightly so he was closer to Gear's eye level. "Why so glum, shortie? Something grinding your gears?" He heard Bumblebee let out a snicker and Gears became even more irritated. Suddenly, Smokescreen came to a realisation and he smirked. "Hey Arcee!" He called over to her. "You're not the shortest anymore! We should-ah!" He was cut off as Gears drove the bottom of his foot onto Smokescreen's, causing the young Autobot to hop away in pain. The other Autobots who saw this laughed. Smokescreen gave them a sheepish grin back, still holding his foot.

"Well, that was shortlived." Bumblebee said, chuckling to himself.

"I hate you." Was Gears' reply.

Ultra Magnus spoke with a big red bot who bore a visor, and a tank barrel on his chassis. This was the Autobot known as Warpath. The stern Autobot commander even found himself smiling at some of the soldier's far-flung stories of his time away from Cybertron.

"It seems as if you've all had quite the experience." Ultra Magnus said. "Although I think it would be best if we filled you all in, inside." He motioned for all the bots to follow him to their temporary 'base'.

Arcee and Ratchet were talking with Jazz and Sideswipe, telling their stories from the time spent in space. "Yeah, so we've had quite the adventure. Seen it all, and we somehow made it back here." Jazz smiled, before realising something odd. "Say, where's Optimus? Oh, and have you seen Cliffjumper since he took off? I told him not to go back to Cybertron but no! - he wouldn't have any of it!"

Arcee and Ratchet's expressions suddenly saddened. "I-I think you better come inside." Arcee managed to say.

Jazz and Sideswipe looked a bit puzzled but followed then anyway. "Sure thing." Jazz replied. "As long as nobody steals my ship." He glared at Gears.

"What you looking at me for?" The small bot moaned.

"You know why."

Gears gave an exasperated sigh before reluctantly following the others inside, grumbling as he went.

**Author's Notes: Just to clarify; the current events take place only about two weeks after the events of Predacons Rising (and ch1) but by the end of the story, a lot more time will pass. I may start looking for a Beta Reader soon, as that way I won't have the proof-read everything, meaning the chapter may be published sooner. As always leave a review if you can and I'll catch you in the next update! (I have a lot of exciting things planned so be sure to keep reading) ;)**


	5. Chapter 5: Blast Off

Starscream strode through the abandoned ruins of Kaon. It had been nearly fourteen solar cycles since Onslaught was revived and he was growing impatient. Shockwave and the military commander always seemed to have something to discuss, leaving Starscream bored out of his processor.

He was hoping that the Decepticon beacon Shockwave set up would've yielded more troops, or at least company that wasn't a mad scientist or a military tactician who'd slept through half the war.

It would seem that today Starscream's prayers would be answered.

His audio receptors suddenly picked up the approaching rumble of a jet engine. No. Three jet engines. Starscream looked up at the nearing craft with a smile. It would seem that today was his lucky day.

Above, the sound of several transformation cogs whirring could be heard before two figures dropped down in front of Starscream. The two Cybertronians were almost identical to each other, were it not for one wearing blue and silver armour, and the other purple and black. They were built similarly to Starscream but not as thin as the air commander. Starscream recognised these two, their red eyes gleamed back at him. The blue one was known as Thundercracker, the other was Skywarp.

Starscream grinned. "Greetings, my brethren! I-" He suddenly leapt back with a squeal as another form landed in front of him with a crash. This new Decepticon was huge, easily the size of Megatron and was probably just as strong. He donned a beige and purple colour scheme, with wings jutting from his body as well as a tank barrel on his back. The giant Decepticon stared back at Starscream through a red visor.

"B-B-Blitzwing!" Starscream stammered as the huge con towered over him. "This is most unexpected. It is...er...good to see you again." His voice was notably higher than usual, mostly out of fear for what Blitzwing might do next. Even Thundercracker and Skywarp took a step back from the titan.

"Starscream." Blitzwing said with a sick smile that made the other's spark tremble in fear of what may be going on in the Decepticon's head. "Don't tell me you were the one who set up the recall beacon?" A trace of humour could be heard in the titan's voice, as if he was thinking of all the ways he could beat the miserable little Seeker into a pathetic smear on the ground.

Starscream regained his composure when he was once again reminded that he was not in charge. "No. That would be Shockwave."

Blitzwing scoffed, a smirk now etched onto his faceplate. "Then show us, commander." The giant mocked before following an irritated but tamed Starscream to Shockwave's base.

When Starscream entered Shockwave's lab, the scientist and Onslaught were deep in conversation. The Seeker rolled his optics before clearing his throat, causing them to stop and look at him.

"I believe you invited these three?" Starscream directed at Shockwave, while gesturing towards the door.

Blitzwing, Thundercracker and Skywarp emerged from the opening, taking in the now pristine laboratory. Blitzwing looked at Shockwave, who met his gaze without fear. "I hear you are in charge now?" The large Decepticon asked the one-eyed scientist.

"Affirmative." Was the reply, without any hint of emotion.

Blitzwing stood still for a second, thinking before he shrugged. "Sure. As long as get to kill something."

"Do not be concerned Blitzwing. There will be plenty of that to come." Shockwave was the only one who did not seem uneasy around the terrifying con. After all, logic dictated that Blitzwing would not be a threat, so long as he was appropriately entertained. He then turned his attention to the remainder of the new arrivals. "Thundercracker and Skywarp, are you fit to accompany Starscream and Onslaught to Nova Cronum?"

"The ruins of Crystal City..." Starscream mused before realising that he did not consent to this mission. "Wait! Why?" He asked.

"Because I have managed to triangulate the location of one of Onslaught's teammates." Shockwave stated.

"Why do I have to go?"

"Unless you would rather stay with me and Blitzwing?" The giant con gave Starscream an evil grin from across the room.

"No! I'm fine! Could do with the exercise anyway!" He quickly squeaked.

"Good."

Shockwave activated the newly installed groundbridge, locked in for Crystal City. It was primitive and of limited range, but it was enough until Shockwave could acquire more sophisticated equipment. Onslaught walked up to the swirling green vortex. "Let's go!" He directed the three Seekers towards the portal. "Follow my lead, and try not to die."

With varying levels of enthusiasm, the four Decepticons walked on through.

They arrived shortly afterwards among the ruins of Crystal City thanks to the miracle of science, and began to take in their surroundings. As far as the eye could see, a jungle of destroyed and collapsed buildings stretched out before them. Corrosion flecked the landscape with an orange hue, adding a splash of colour to the dull grey of the city. Crystal City may have once seemed an appropriate title, but now that name had since been lost to the ravages of war and time.

Starscream took in the scenery. "Ah. The place doesn't look too different from when we destroyed it."

Thundercracker seemed inawed by the place. "Wasn't this once the scientific hub of Cybertron? Where Shockwave made the first combiner?"

Skywarp facepalmed. "You're such a nerd, Thundercracker."

Onslaught remembered the experiments. He and his team could've been the first, but unforeseen complications meant that they were usurped by those accursed Constructicons. Onslaught's fist tightened. "Yes Thundercracker. This is the place." A hint of wistfulness was in his voice. This time the Combaticons will be the Decepticon's ultimate weapon, they deserved that much.

Starscream waved a hand in dismissal. "Yes yes very interesting. Now how do you plan on locating your comrade? He could be anywhere here!"

"If Shockwave is correct, then I should be able to find him through the mental link we share as a result of our combination. I should know when we are in close proximity." Onslaught closed his optics and concentrated. Starscream rolled his own optics from behind him.

Onslaught felt a gentle tugging sensation in the back of his processor, as if he was being drawn to his team-mate's subconscious mind. They were close. After a few moments Onslaught reopened his optics, now sure of where they were heading with absolute certainty.

"Well?" Starscream asked.

Onslaught directed them to a nearby building. "This way."

The structure he led them to was huge and dome-shaped, its giant doors rusted shut. Thundercracker wiped a layer of rust from a plaque next to the doors and read it out. "The Institute for Higher Programming. Say, isn't this where Shockwave used to work? Before the war and everything?" He got no answer as Onslaught was too busy trying to break the door down, but to no avail. He slammed his fist against it in frustration, but it didn't budge.

"Have you tried knocking?" Starscream asked sarcastically.

"No. I don't think there'll be anyone at home." Skywarp mused.

"He was talking about the door, not your head." Thundercracker retorted.

Onslaught growled. "Shut up and get out of the way!" He pushed past the other Decepticons and began walking away from the building.

"Don't tell me you're sulking?!" Starscream grinned after the big con.

After he was a good distance away Onslaught turned back and transformed into a Cybertronian armoured vehicle. He revved his engines before accelerating towards the building with alarming speed. The other Decepticons saw him racing towards them and leaped out of the way in a panicked frenzy. Just as he reached the doorway Onslaught transformed, driving his fist into the metal. The speed granted by his alternate mode allowed the Decepticon to successfully demolish the door, sending it flying into the building with a crash.

Starscream picked himself up off the ground, dusting the rust flecks from his body. "Are you trying to kill us?!" He screamed at Onslaught who simply looked back at him blankly.

"I thought you wanted me to knock?" He mocked, causing Starscream to grumble to himself along with his brethren before they all followed Onslaught inside.

The room was massive, faded imagery and furniture lined the curved walls as a testament to its thousands of years in disuse. "We could've just flown in." Thundercracker remarked, pointing to the shattered glass dome ceiling.

"But where's the fun in that?" Onslaught replied. The others could swear he was smiling behind that faceplate of his.

The four of them stopped on the cusp of a large crater, no doubt leading down to the once secure lower levels of the institute. "Follow Me." He ordered the Seekers before leaping into the hundred foot drop and landing with a loud thud. The others transformed and flew after him.

After being joined with the trio, Onslaught activated the headlights on his chassis and finally found what he was looking for. Sprawled out further down the darkened corridor was another Combaticon. Onslaught quickly raced to the unconscious bot's side, checking him over for any signs of severe damage. The Decepticon was of similar size and build to Thundercracker and Skywarp. He had a pair of wings jutting out from his back and rocket thrusters on his shoulders and calves. Like Onslaught, his mouth was also covered by a protective faceplate.

"Blast Off." Onslaught muttered with a trace of happiness in his voice. Wasting no time, he retrieved the syringe that Shockwave had given him from his storage unit. The small instrument glowed the faint blue of energon which was emptied as Onslaught drove the needle into his compatriot's chest. The body shuddered, the presence of a fresh energon source bringing his systems out of hibernation. Purple eyes shone in the dark as the Combaticon awoke with a roar.

Starscream tutted. "Are they all going to wake-up like that?"

Onslaught rested a hand on his comrade's shoulder, causing him to look up at his leader. "O-Onslaught? Where are we? How did we get here?" He looked at the three Seekers and became even more confused. "Is that-"

"Yes Blast Off, I'll explain once we get out of here." Onslaught assured him. "Can you transform?"

"Yeah. I think so." Onslaught helped him to his feet. "Its good to be back, with you at least." He looked suspiciously at the trio beyond him.

Onslaught smiled behind his faceplate. "I'm glad to have some like-minded company."

**Author's Notes: The Decepticons are beginning to rebuild! I wasn't originally going to have a rivalry between the combiner teams but then thought that it could serve for some interesting tension later on. Everyone's fear of Blitzwing will also be covered later in the story. Until next time! ;)**


	6. Chapter 6: Drinking In The Guilt

The Iacon Hall of Records was once a place of calm. Where one could collect their thoughts and research without the bothers of the outside world. But now, thousands of years later, the still relatively intact structure was the staging ground for a party.

Autobots of all shapes and sizes chatted and laughed between swigs of a pink liquid known as Engex. The newly arrived Autobots had several crates of the beverage on their ship, much to the confusion and gratitude of the others. Despite centuries of war they had somehow managed to keep hold of it.

Having similar effects to human alcohol, some of the bots who'd had a little too much to drink acted with more gusto than usual. Some of them would alao be guaranteed a processor ache the next morning.

After team Prime's long and painful recount of the events that led up to the restoration of Cybertron, the room had become uncomfortably quiet. It was Ultra Magnus who encouraged the renewal of the party, telling the bots that the finer details of their future would be discussed later. The party had eventually resumed, but it was now tainted with the loss of Optimus Prime.

After the talk, Arcee noticed Jazz slink off alone outside. She waited for a few minutes, before eventually deciding to follow the Autobot.

Jazz sat on the edge of a metal balcony, musing over the young night. It wasn't fair. He'd just found out that two of his closest friends were now dead. It was a lot to take in. Jazz doubted he even fully understood what this meant for his and the Autobot's future. Optimus was a great leader, and no matter how hard they may look, Jazz knew in his spark that they could never replace him.

The sound of movement from behind snapped Jazz out of his thoughts. "Hey." Jazz turned to see that it was Arcee who had interrupted him. She closed the door behind her, muffling the sound of the party beyond.

"I was going to do that." Jazz said nonchalantly. Arcee raised a quick eyebrow and placed herself next to him, both staring out into the night time city. They sat there for a moment, in silence. Neither of them exactly knew what to say to the other.

It was Jazz who ended up breaking their vigil. "Towards the end of the war on Cybertron, me and Cliff were sent into the sea of rust to track down an Autobot squad that abandoned their post; Grimlock's squad." Arcee's eyes widened at the name but she let Jazz continue. "We eventually found that they'd been taken by Shockwave. Primus knows what he did to them. We later found him tinkering with some sort of ancient Space Bridge. We could've taken him out." Arcee raised an eyebrow. "Well, we probably could've taken him out. But Cliff insisted that he got his 'jump on', as he phrased it. Shockwave saw him coming, so we ended up blowing the place. I think he was just worried that I'd take all the credit." He chuckled.

Arcee gave a smile back. "That does sound a lot like Cliff."

"Yeah. I probably should've stuck by him more. Guess he did need a new partner after all."

Arcee suddenly looked apologetic. "Jazz, I-"

"It's okay Cee. I don't blame either of you. I'm more angry with myself for leaving him to go back alone. But it was probably for the better, I don't think he could've found a better partner than you."

Arcee smiled at his compliment but still felt that Jazz was being too hard on himself. "Jazz, even if you were there you probably would've died too. Cliff never resented you for letting him go alone. He would sometimes tell stories of your adventures together, but understood that you had to go your separate ways." She placed a hand on his shoulder as a sign of assurance.

Jazz sighed. "I guess you're probably right, but I still feel as if maybe things would be better if we'd all stayed with Optimus."

"We couldn't stay on the Ark forever. We all had places to go, things we needed to do, friends to make...and leave behind." She felt her own sadness well up inside her as she said those words.

"Oh well, I couldn't be Optimus' first lieutenant forever. Too much responsibility, even if he was a good friend. You're much better suited for the job than I ever was. I just wish I could've seen him one more time. He may have seemed wise and powerful, but he wasn't always like that."

Arcee wondered what Optimus was like before he was made a Prime, she only ever knew him as the leader of the Autobots. His personal and past life was something that only a select few were privvy to. Jazz was one of them. "Look, Jazz. We'll always have Cliff and Optimus as we remember them, in here." She pointed to her chest, wherein lay her spark, the heart and soul of every Cybertronian. "What we need to do is focus on making a better future for a new generation. So they don't have to live with the regret we do."

Jazz knew Arcee was right. He turned and gave her a slight grin. "Now I know you've been hanging around Optimus too long."

Arcee smiled back, motioning towards the door that led back inside. "Come on. I'll buy you a drink."

Jazz laughed. "It's my Engex! You're lucky I'm not charging you, I nearly died stealing those crates from the cons!"

The two bots rejoined the party, deciding to enjoy the rest of the night.

**Author's Notes: So I tried my best to have Jazz and Arcee's interaction feel natural but it probably couldv'e been done better somehow. It ended up coming off similar to Arcee and Wheeljack's interaction in Season 3. I hope it seemed consistent with their characters. Because Jazz was friends with both Cliffjumper and Optimus, it was difficult to juggle the feeling of guilt he has about both of them. I'm entering a busy year now so I'll try to update this as often as I can though I'll aim for once or twice a month (at least), depending on the length of the chapter. My plans for this story are also a bit all over the place at the moment so I'll try to organise things before I write too much and then realise I've missed or messed up something. Until next time! ;)**


	7. Chapter 7: Crashing and Burning

The skies of Iacon seemed peaceful. At least they did until it started raining Autobot shuttles.

Within the crashing and burning Autobot ship, five silhouettes (their faces obscured by smoke) argued. "They're gaining on us!" One voice yelled. "I can see that!" Shot back another. "I calculate a thirty five percent chance of this manoeuvre being completed successfully." A third figure noted. "Shut Up!" Four other voices responded.

The shuttle was suddenly shaken violently as a blast tore into their hull. The voices cried out to each other again. "We're going down!" One yelled. "Pull up!" Panicked a second. "I'm trying!" The first voice shot back. "Ah, scrap." They all said simultaneously as their ship hit solid ground.

"Uhh my head gasket." One of the crew members complained as he clambered out of the burning wreck that was once their shuttle, holding his head. He was built slightly larger than Ratchet and bore a slightly faded elite guard insignia on his broad shoulders. The dark green bot peered back inside the smouldering ship. "Are you okay in there?" He shouted into the smoke.

His question was answered as a servo appeared from within, pulling another bot out of the hatch. This one was similar to Smokescreen, his orange and yellow paint job and flame decals giving a statement of their own without the young Autobot having to say a word. He dusted himself off. "We're fine Kup. Trust me, I know how to land my own ship."

The one called Kup raised an optic ridge. "You mean crash?" Came his gruff reply. The other Autobot rubbed the back of his neck.

"That's my ship, Hot Rod." A green bot added. He was tall and broad shouldered and having just exited his burning ship, was covered in a fine layer of dust which he tried to scrub off with his servos.

Hot Rod rolled his optics. "Whatever. I'm not getting you a new one. You're the pilot."

"And you were supposed to be the navigator! But all you've managed to do is direct us into the ground like a suicidal Aerialbot!" He facepalmed. "I should've listened to Perceptor."

"Yes you should have." Came a voice from the smoke as two more Autobots emerged from it. One was reasonably large with what looked like an oversized microscope perched on his shoulder and red armour, which was now scratched and burnt in places thanks to the crash. He appeared to be limping slightly, supported by a smaller bot who looked almost identical to Bumblebee, were it not for his blue and orange paint job and goggles which covered his optics.

Springer looked at them with a mixture of shock and concern. "Primus Perceptor what happened?"

The red bot grimaced slightly as a responded. "Your ego 'happened' Springer. Luckily I wasn't too near the back of the ship, otherwise I'd be molecules by now."

"You should probably sit down Perceptor." The bot supporting him said, eager to be relieved of his burden while still showing concern for his comrade.

"I'll be fine Hot Shot." He insisted. "We need to locate the other Autobots if we wish to survive this."

"No need." Springer added, pointing to the group of approaching vehicles. "Looks like they've come to us." He narrowed his optics, focusing on them with curiosity. The vehicles which he saw in front of him were mostly unrecognizable to him however. Obviously some of these Autobots had taken on the guise of some alien vehicle and had not yet reverted back to their original forms for reasons he could not yet fathom. From Springer's limited knowledge of the alien vehicles he could make out Jazz (who had kept his original form), Ironhide (who had done the same), and what appeared to be Ultra Magnus, Bumblebee and Arcee? From what he could tell. While Springer did not know these bots all too well, a few of them had been fortunate enough to make his acquaintance.

Once the Autobots had reached their ship they transformed, confirming Springer's suspicions. "Springer." Arcee said, a hint of caution in her voice as she folded her arms, eyeing him up and down. Ultra Magnus also gave him a similar look, like he was waiting for a bomb to explode.

Springer was about to say something when he was interrupted by the other bots. "Sweet Primus what happened to you?" Jazz asked them with concern, though his voice still sounded as cool as ever. Bumblebee rushed to help Perceptor and Hot Shot as Ultra Magnus continued to observe the new arrivals, as if checking them for errors in conformity.

A deep ominous rumble overhead turned their attention skyward. "That happened." Hot Rod clarified, pointing to the source of the noise. From the sky descended a very large and imposing Decepticon warship. Despite it only being half the size of the Nemesis, the ship still possessed enough firepower to easily decimate a small city. A mixture of light and dark purple hues decorated the ship, right up to its spearheaded prow which proudly bore the Decepticon insignia.

"Is that-" Bumblebee began before Ultra Magnus finished his thought. "The Empirion." He stated, the words now visible on the side of the ship in jet black lettering.

The Autobots ducked behind cover and readied their weapons, expecting a fight. To their disbelief, the Decepticon warship didn't even seem to acknowledge their presence. Instead it changed course, redirecting itself away from the Autobots and Iacon and to the other side of the planet.

Perceptor raised an optic ridge at the ship's sudden change in course. "That's odd. It's unlike Bludgeon to run from a fight."

Ultra Magnus stood there in thought. "This is most unsettling. If Bludgeon is going to join Shockwave then we could have another war on our hands."

"Then let's take 'em down before they can get any stronger!" Hot Rod interjected, slamming his fists together with a metallic clang.

Magnus eyed up the young bot with unimpressed optics. "We must not act hastily. Our top priority is to get you all back to Iacon in one piece, and then we will formulate a plan on what to do next."

Springer cut in with a slightly annoyed tone. "Look Magnus, Bludgeon has some pretty important prisoners holed up in his ship, if we wait around for too long then we may be too late to rescue them. I suggest that we get back to Iacon, load up and then launch a rescue mission at nightfall. They won't know what hit 'em."

Ultra Magnus did not seem to be impressed by the soldier's disrespectful tone. "Listen here soldier, we live in difficult times, each and every move we make must be carefully considered or else we risk losing everything, again. Do I make myself clear, wrecker?"

Springer stated at the Commander for a few seconds before scoffing. "Whatever." He said as he pushed past the Autobots and began to walk back to Iacon city.

Ultra Magnus watched him go and sighed, turning back to the others. "So Perceptor, who does Bludgeon have prisoner?"

The bridge of the Empirion was not unlike that of the Nemesis, though it was smaller than that of the Decepticon flagship. At the front of the bridge stood a large figure, looking out of the large window as the Cybertronian landscape raced beneath them. The Decepticon was strongly built, with hues of yellow, green and red strangely complimenting his stature. A tank barrel jutted from his back, positioned next to the circular hilt of a Samurai sword.

"Bludgeon." The Decepticon turned to face the speaker who was behind him, revealing the helmet that he wore. It was very similar to a traditional Samurai helmet, with horn-like protrusions from the centre. The mask that covered his face resembled a skull, with two ruby red optics glowing from behind.

The bot who had addressed him was also quite large, though a little shorter. Purple and grey colouring covered the Decepticon's broad chest and shoulders. "Yes, Quake? What is it?" Bludgeon asked, his skeletal mask moving slightly as he spoke.

"You're not honestly going back to Megatron, are you?"

Bludgeon laughed. A sinister, humour-less laugh that sounded like a blade being dragged along a metal surface. "No Quake, I am not. According to Blitzwing, Shockwave has somehow taken over command. We will bide our time, and once Shockwave gives us what we want we will..." He finished his sentence by closing his fist tightly in front of the bot.

Quake nodded. "And what of the prisoners?"

Bludgeon let out a low growl from behind his mask, but Quake did not appear to visibly flinch in the slightest. "He can have Prowl and do what he wishes with him. Drift is mine. Now go and prepare for landing. We're almost at Kaon."

Quake nodded and turned, marching out of the bridge and to the lower decks. Bludgeon turned and looked out the window once more, glowering at the remnants of the once proud Decepticon capital. "Let's see what you've got in store for us this time, Shockwave." He said to himself with a evil smirk.

**Author's Notes: I'm sorry this chapter took me so long to finish. My motivation fluctuates sometimes, but I still want to finish this story. I hope that this chapter wasn't too clumsy but introducing so many new characters at once is no easy task. Ultra Magnus has a past with Springer and so does Arcee, a little (as sort of a reference to G1). This may cause some problems later on. As for Bludgeon, well, he's just too cool not to have in this story and will serve as another antagonist for it. Let me know what you guys think and I'll try and get the next one out sooner! Until next time! ;)**


	8. Chapter 8: Vortex

A Cybertronian armoured vehicle raced across the barren metallic landscape, kicking up clouds of dust as it rolled through. Its only company were four Cybertronian jets keeping pace with the vehicle, who was actually the Combaticon leader; Onslaught.

Onslaught's radio crackled into life as one of the jets above contacted him. "So according to Shockwave, one of our guys is somewhere in Protihex. But the city is huge! How are we supposed to find one bot among all that?" The voice queried.

Onslaught was quick to respond. "Not to worry Blast Off, once we get there we should be able to find out comrade's approximate location through our psychic Combiner link."

"Ah of course." The jet mused. Shockwave really did think of everything. "For once being able to sense when one of our team is nearby will be useful."

Onslaught resisted the urge to let out a laugh, remembering times when his teammates would try and play pranks on each other when bored, but their psychic link ultimately rendered their amusement null and void. Instead he replied with a simple "Indeed." though his voice sounded notably more happier than it had before. His team needed each other in order for any of them to be completely whole. Onslaught swore that he will bring all of them back in one piece, by the Allspark.

...

Not long afterwards, the Decepticons arrived in the city of Protihex. Onslaught transformed and stretched his limbs. While driving certainly used less energy than walking, it was still tiring if exercised for too long, not to mention a little claustrophobic at times.

Blast Off transformed and landed next to him with a thud, standing a few feet shorter than his leader. "Shockwave really needs to work on increasing the range on that bridge of his, I'd rather not have to fly half of the way again." He remarked while performing some stretches of his own.

Several more thuds could be heard from behind them as Starscream, Thundercracker and Skywarp transformed and landed. They did not feel the need to stretch their joints as much, Seekers were generally more comfortable remaining in their alternate modes for extended periods of time than most.

"So where to now, Onslaught?" Starscream asked half-heartedly, making no effort to disguise the fact that he'd rather be somewhere else.

Onslaught glowered at the Seeker from over his shoulder before turning to Blast Off. "Close your optics and focus on the link. Remember what its like to be together, as one but separate." Blast Off complied and Onslaught did the same, not noticing Starscream roll his optics from behind them. "Do you feel it?" He asked his comrade, feeling the now familiar tugging sensation in the back of his processor.

Blast Off could feel it too. "Yes." He replied, focusing on that feeling. He opened his optics, raising a servo to point at one of the buildings ahead of them. "There." He stated with a feeling of certainty.

Onslaught placed a hand on Blast Off's shoulder. "Well done." He told the bot, a smile hidden behind his faceplate. Praise was something that Onslaught did not often give, it was something that he felt should not be administered lightly, but his team had proven time and time again that they were more than worthy of such compliments.

"Fine. Let's go." Starscream said, walking forward with no hint of enthusiasm.

He suddenly stopped as a loud bang echoed throughout the ruined city, his entire body flinching at the sound and back hunching over. Starscream turned back to the others, his optics clearly dilated in fear and confusion. "What was that?" He asked, trying to hide the slight tremble in his voice.

Dark vapour clouds began to form over the city, shadowing the ruins with their dark silhouettes. Without warning, arcs of electricity crackled around the clouds before shooting into the ground with a deafening bang. The Decepticons covered their audio receptors.

Onslaught straightened, clenching his fists in annoyance. "Electrical storm." He answered Starscream's question through gritted denta. They were so close!

Thundercracker's eyes widen further in realisation. "We need to go." He told the others. "Right now."

"I-I concur." Starscream walked back to his teammates. "Let's get out of here!"

"No!" Onslaught responded with steely determination. "You three can run if you want, but we..." He looked to Blast Off. "…Have a job to do."

Starscream looked as if he was going to say something but simply shrugged and turned to his Seekers. "Thundercracker, Skywarp; maintain a safe distance from the storm! Shockwave will want us to retrieve the bodies afterwards." He said the last bit in a low mutter so the two Combaticons wouldn't hear and with a final sparing glance to them, he transformed and took off.

Now left alone, the two Combaticons began to act. "Let's go. We haven't much time!" Onslaught told Blast Off as the storm drew closer. They transformed and raced in the direction they sensed their comrade in, the pulse in their processors growing more powerful as they drew near.

They came to a halt in front of a tall cylindrical building; another residential structure, which were commonplace across most Cybertronian cities. But this one was more important, at least to the Combaticons, as it currently housed one of their long lost comrades.

Onslaught approached the building's entrance and pried it open with his servos. Quickly making his way inside, Onslaught found that most of the interior now appeared hollow; with his missing team member nowhere in sight. He desperately looked around for any signs, he knew they were close, he could feel it in his processor and his spark.

Something hanging from a ledge far above caught his optic. He focused on on it. It was a servo, left dangling limply. "There." Onslaught pointed to the inanimate limb. There was no way he'd be able to get up there, at least not in time.

Luckily, he was not alone. "On it!" Blast Off replied, transforming and soaring up to the ledge. He transformed again when he got there, hovering in place thanks to the jets on his feet. He looked the body over. The bot was strongly built, but not too large. Faded maroon and gold plating covered the Decepticon's body, complete with a featureless faceplate bearing a visor that covered his optics. Blast Off recognised this bot straight away.

"Hey, it's Vortex!" He called down to Onslaught who looked relieved despite his faceplate masking most of his emotions. However, now was not the time for reunion, a loud crash not too far away reminded Blast Off of this. He retrieved an Energon vial from his storage compartment within his chassis and injected it into the lifeless bot in front of him.

The body shuddered violently, joints flexing as systems came out of hibernation. Colour returned to his body once more as Vortex's visor lit up a bright yellow. The newly awoken Decepticon gasped heavily, gripping Blast Off's arm as a subconscious reaction. A few moments passed before the Combaticon regained his senses.

"Blast Off!?" He asked incredulously. "Wait. Where are we? How did I get here?!" Confusion overtook his processor as he desperately tried to recall his last memories. A loud bang and a collapsing ceiling brought Vortex back to reality.

"No time to answer that now let's get outta here!" Blast Off shouted above the storm. "Can you transform?"

Vortex looked at him as if he had been hit on the head. "'Course I can you idiot!"

Blast Off let out a small chuckle before they both transformed and flew out of the crumbling ceiling. Below, the familiar shape of a Cybertronian armoured vehicle raced out of the building as it collapsed under the growing pressure of the storm. They had made it against all odds. They all prayed that the next two would be easier to recover.

...

Several hours later, after rejoining Starscream and the Seekers, the group of Decepticons were close enough to call in for a ground bridge to their location. Vortex, who had recently been briefed on current events, had many questions but he doubted anyone could answer them, let alone his present company.

As the six Decepticons passed through the portal and into Shockwave's lab, none of them expected to be greeted with the sight that lay before them.

In one corner Blitzwing was actually having a conversation with someone, which was shocking enough. Though the interaction seemed to mostly consist of remarks related to violence or cackles of insane laughter. It wasn't too much of a surprise that the other bot turned out to be Quake.

What was even more surprising to see was the other recent addition of Bludgeon, who was currently conversing with Shockwave. He had his sword out, which was easily as long as Shockwave's cannon arm, and kept running his finger along it, almost as if he was satisfying a hyperactive twitch. When he saw the others come through the portal, he looked over to them, ruby optics gleaming from behind a skeletal mask that seemed to shift while he watched them approach, as if the face behind was grinning at some sort of non-existent joke.

"Well, well, well." Bludgeon spoke in a deep and raspy voice. "Its been too long."

"Or not long enough." Starscream muttered, looking less than thrilled about the recent arrival. The other Decepticons around him shuffled uncomfortably in silent agreement.

Onslaught glared at Bludgeon, optics narrowing behind his visor. "What is he doing here?" He asked, tone making no attempt to disguise his current displeasure at seeing the Decepticon before him.

Shockwave gave his usual collected and emotionless response. "Bludgeon has agreed to join us in our quest to reclaim Cybertron. With his assistance, we can more easily achieve our common goal."

Onslaught grunted in response, his glare not faltering. After he and Bludgeon shared a few moments in a silent standoff, the latter eventually averted his gaze, dismissing the other. "Well, I'll leave you to get on with it then." Bludgeon clasped a servo on Shockwave's shoulder. "I will go and make the arrangements for our exchange." With those parting words, he, Quake and Blitzwing took their leave, marching back towards the Empirion.

Onslaught did not let himself relax even after they'd left. "What in the pit are you playing at Shockwave?!" He hissed at the scientist. "There's a reason why Megatron kept him preoccupied in deep space for most of the war. He's dangerous, unpredictable! He's no more loyal to the Decepticons than he is to the Autobots! Heck, I'll bet that he'll even turn on us if given the chance!"

Shockwave raised a servo in a request for silence. "I am no fool, Onslaught. I am more than aware of Bludgeon and his...idiosyncrasies. I will monitor him closely, and if necessary, eliminate him. Now, while Bludgeon's forces will no doubt prove useful in our conquest, we still do not possess sufficient firepower to defeat the Autobots. It is imperative that you recover the rest of your team as soon as possible so we can end this war before our enemies become too suspicious."

Onslaught still seemed unhappy with their current situation, but no doubt wanted to recover the remainder of his team. "Fine." He grumbled, before realising something. "What did Bludgeon mean by your 'exchange'?"

* * *

**So here I just wanted to further establish some comradery among the Combaticons, as the lack of this is often what caused the Decepticons to fail and is what makes this group far more dangerous. They may be 'the bad guys' but that doesn't mean they are without compassion, at least among themselves. So Bludgeon is also a bit of a loose cannon and generally feared by all factions for his impulsive nature, so much that even Megatron didn't want to have to deal with him directly. As mentioned last chapter, he will try to betray Shockwave eventually but is very patient about it so nothing will happen between them for a while yet, though Shockwave is more than prepared to deal with him if he becomes more trouble than he's worth.**

**Please review and stuff, and I'll see you next time! ;)**


	9. Chapter 9: There Is A Plan

The Autobots stood around a large table, watching the glowing blue hologram of Cybertron floating above it as Ultra Magnus addressed them.

The Autobot commander stood in front of the table, servos folded neatly behind his back. His straight posture never wavered while he spoke. "By our estimates, the remaining Decepticons seem to be operating from within Kaon. They have most likely been using one of Megatron's abandoned fortresses to broadcast a recall signal, which is resulting in the growth of their numbers."

As he briefed the Autobots, the hologram zoomed in on a city located towards the South of the planet, displaying the shimmering blue outline of numerous structures to represent the city of Kaon.

"Seeing as we currently have no idea of what kind of defence the Decepticons have in place, I would strongly recommend that a small reconnaissance group is sent in to scout out the area. This way we'll have a better idea of knowing what we're up against. Are we all in agreement?" He asked, almost rhetorically.

Ironhide, who was standing on the edge of the crowd (his broad frame prevented him from comfortably sitting among the other bots in the crowded briefing room) stroked his metallic chin with a servo. "Hmmm... Sounds like a plan Magnus, this way we'll-"

"We don't have time for a recon mission." A loud voice came from Ironhide's right, the green armour and lean stature making the bot easily identifiable as Springer. "It will take several cycles for us to form a 'strategy' gathered from an even longer scouting mission! The cons could easily coordinate themselves by then and then we'll have another war on our hands or worse yet, they'll grow tired of their prisoner's resistance and terminate them without a second thought. Besides, you'll probably get spotted anyway, which will ruin our element of surprise."

Ironhide placed a servo on Springer's shoulder as a sign of sympathy. "Look, Spring. I know that you feel responsible for Prowl and Drift's capture but we're trying to help. Magnus knows what he's doing. They'll be back soon enough."

Springer shook the large hand off and scoffed. "This isn't just about them! It's not even my fault that they were captured in the first place! I told them that the energon reading from that planetoid was a trap, but no one else listened!" The other crew members of his ship shuffled uncomfortably, knowing that they too were partially responsible for their current situation. "This is about his methods!" He pointed an accusing finger at Ultra Magnus, who stared back, fists clenched and metal jaw tightened.

Arcee decided to interject. "If we rush in there now, we could lose even more. None of us are prepared to risk that. So instead you'll just have to trust us and go along with the plan, for everyone's sake."

"Trust." Springer shook his head mockingly. "Maybe I'd be a little more trusting if the bot in charge of this operation wasn't the one who somehow managed to ruin the Wreckers! Maybe we wouldn't still be fighting the cons if Impactor were still here!" He could feel the anger coursing through his veins as he faced the bot who he blamed for almost every problem in his life after the old Wrecker leader's death.

Ultra Magnus attempted to control the increasing conflict. "Stand down soldier."

"I have a name."

"Springer, I think that it is best if you sit this mission out. I do not feel that you are of sound mind at this moment, and I will not put these Autobots at risk because of your...spontaneity."

Springer stared at the Autobot commander with narrowed optics for a good few moments before Arcee spoke again. "Springer…please. It's for the best." She tried to make him understand.

Wheeljack stepped closer to the green bot. "Yeah Spring, give yourself a cycle or two to clear you processor then you'll be back in the fight, when you're ready." He gave a small smile to the ex-Wrecker but this did nothing to assure the bot as he shrugged Wheeljack off like he did Ironhide.

Springer took a step backwards, realising that they were not on his side anymore (or ever were). "Y'know I about expected this much from you Arcee." The femme looked almost hurt by his comment. "But you Wheeljack..." He shook his head. "I expected better from a Wrecker." On that note, he stormed out of the room, leaving the Autobots staring after him.

"Well that…" Jazz said in his usual calm(ish) tone. "Could've gone a lot worse." He winced as the sound of Springer knocking over furniture from outside echoed down the corridor.

Ultra Magnus heaved a heavy sigh before turning back to face the other Autobots, whose optics were all dilated a little more than before. He mentally composed himself, steeling the growing frustration and slight twinge of guilt he now felt.

"So, do we have any volunteers for the scouting mission?"

* * *

**So this chapter was a little bit shorter than usual but this was mostly to display the growing tensions between Springer and Ultra Magnus (as well as his past with some other bots). I'm sorry that I made Springer out to be a little bit too much of an a-hole but he just really hates Ultra Magnus' command. If you thought that Wheeljack and Magnus were a bit rocky, then Springer is ten times worse (at least) in terms of defiance and sometimes recklessness.****Plz review if you can.****Until next time! ;)**


	10. Chapter 10: Reconnaissance

The groundbridge portal roared into life, tendrils of energy licking the air around it. Next to the whirling green vortex, optics fixed on a computer terminal, stood Ratchet, fussing over diagnostics and constantly rechecking the machine's destination coordinates.

Ultra Magnus approached the three figures awaiting departure, his expression as stern as always. He eyed each of them with varying levels of suspicion. Arcee and Jazz were trusty soldiers, he knew that they could easily pull off this operation without a hitch. It was the other bot that he was slightly uneasy with putting on this mission; Sideswipe.

The Autobot found his optics narrow in concern as he looked to the red bot, who was calmly awaiting the order to leave, foot tapping on the metal floor with a repetitive clanking sound. He was young, bold and from what Magnus heard, something of a loose cannon. The Autobot commander mentally sighed, he felt that he would regret sending these bots on this mission.

"Remember, your mission is reconnaissance only." Magnus felt the need to clarify this to the bots. "Do not engage unless you are fired upon first, in which case call for extraction immediately. We cannot afford to lose any more bots, or worse." He turned to Ratchet, who was still making minute adjustments to the groundbridge. "Ratchet, is everything ready?"

The old bot quickly finished a few final calculations before turning to respond. "Everything seems to be in order Ultra Magnus." He told the commander. That was a little bit of a lie. Ratchet had been struggling with portal technology since the destruction of the Nemesis. What he could scavenge from there was enough to construct their current groundbridge, but he was far off from creating his own spacebridge. Not that it would do much, most Autobots were finding their own way home, not to mention that Ratchet had strangely lost a lock on Earth's coordinates not long after he'd left, though he kept that to himself.

Ratchet forced himself to focus on the task at hand. "I'll have to bridge you just outside of Kaon in order to avoid detection from the Decepticons. However, this will also mean that your extraction will be more difficult if need be, so please be careful." His voice contained noticeable concern, but was still delivered in the medic's usual sincere tone.

"We'll be careful Ratchet." Arcee assured him.

"Yeah, no worries doc." Jazz added.

Ratchet huffed and returned to his work. Jazz tries to hide the smile creeping up on his face at the doctor's anticipated reaction.

"Good hunting Autobots." Ultra Magnus gave as his final farewell, before the trio transformed and revved their engines. Without another word the motorcycle and two streamlined Cybertronian cars raced through the portal, disappearing in a brilliant flash of light.

As the three Autobots emerged from the portal in Kaon, they immediately transformed and were greeted with the remains of a once great city. Buildings lay in ruins, littering the urban landscape. The ground was peppered with holes left by thousands of years of endless warfare. Twisted metal structures sprawled across most of the city, strangling itself in silent chaos.

Sideswipe whistled. "Looks worse than I remember it."

"Looks like the cons have invested in some new renovations." Jazz quipped.

Arcee scanned the contorted landscape, taking in every detail of the deceased capital. "We're not here to sightsee." She added. Every moment she spent in the city made her energon tanks churn in disgust. This was the place from where Megatron hailed, and eventually became his own twisted realm. It symbolised everything the Autobots stood against, and she hated it.

They continued to walk deeper into the city with minimal discussion, careful not to use their alternate modes and draw unwanted attention to themselves. After a while, they arrived at one of the suspected Decepticon hideouts: Darkmount.

"I don't think the cons are here." Sideswipe commented while eyeing up the dull grey, and seemingly abandoned Decepticon fortress.

As if on cue, two pairs of footfalls could be heard drawing nearer, forcing the three Autobots to quickly scramble behind several empty and rusted energon crates.

"I don't like it." Said one of the voices. "One day Bludgeon just appears in his fancy star cruiser and now he acts like he runs the place. I don't care what Shockwave thinks, I don't trust him."

"I don't trust either of 'em." Replied the other. "Shockwave's obviously hiding something or else it wouldn't be taking him so long to find the others!"

The first voice let out a brief laugh. "I don't think we can trust anyone here. I mean, come on. Shockwave, Bludgeon and Starscream all in one place?! All we need now is Scorponok to complete our collection of shifty Decepticons who are most likely to stab you in the back."

"I hear ya Blast Off."

The sound of footsteps stopped as the two Decepticons; Blast Off and Vortex stood to talk. Just a few meters away the three Autobots peered cautiously from behind their cover, unseen by the two Combaticons.

"Looks like they're missing a few people." Sideswipe whispered to his two comrades.

"Yeah." Jazz responded in a low voice. "We need to keep it that way. If they can still form Bruticus then things will become a lot harder."

"Its not like we've never taken him down before. I ripped his head off once, remember? And you managed to get him off the Ark." His optics sparkled with the idea of challenge.

"I had a lot of help, and you had Grimlock."

Sideswipe shrugged in response, but before he could form a verbal reply a new voice cut through the air.

"What are you two doing out here? There's work to be done!"

The Autobots peered from behind their cover to see an all too familiar Decepticon approach Blast Off and Vortex, interrupting their current conversation.

"Starscream." Vortex identified the new bot with a clear hint of distaste. "Tell me, what should we be doing? Hanging out with Bludgeon's crew who have half a brain module between them?!"

"Well there's always work to be done in the name of conquest! And there'll be plenty more to do on my Cybertron."

Vortex raised an imaginary eyebrow. "Your Cybertron?"

"Oh come on! You don't honestly think that Shockwave is fit to rule?! He can help us reclaim Cybertron, yes, but someone else deserves a right to the throne."

Vortex grunted, though it was more humorous than aggressive. "Some bots never change..." He shook his head at Blast Off who chuckled slightly.

Starscream seemed unimpressed by their current attitude. "I don't see you two faring much better. You slept through half the war!" His wings flared defensively.

The Combaticons didn't seem offended by Starscream's aggressive jab. "Oh yeah?" Vortex retorted. "We probably accomplished just as much in stasis than you did online!"

Starscream's faceplate grew a sly smile. "Well, I doubt you terminated any Autobots in your sleep."

Blast Off raised an optic ridge, intrigued by the Seeker's comment. "You actually terminated an Autobot? By yourself?"

Vortex mockingly pretended to sniff the air. "Strange. My olfactory sensors are detecting high levels of bull scrap." Both of the Combaticons laughed heavily, which was wearing thin on the Seeker's patience.

"Well you can thank me for not having to deal with Cliffjumper anymore."

The Decepticons stopped laughing. "Cliffjumper you say? That's impressive for you, he was quite a handful." Blast Off commented.

As Starscream continued to gloat to his peers, the hidden Autobots solemnly listened in. Without a single word, Jazz's arm morphed into a long, silver sniper rifle barrel. With rage building in his circuits, Jazz aligned the weapon with Starscream's head.

Arcee suddenly realised what was about to happen. "Jazz, no!" She whispered sharply, dragging the Autobot to the side before he could pull the trigger. Jazz was yanked aside with a loud clank, causing the Decepticons to become suspicious.

"What was that?" Starscream asked, but received no answer.

"I dunno." Vortex replied, moving to investigate the source of the sound. He approached the crates and looked behind them to find...nothing. "There's nothing here." He clarified. Fortunately the Autobots had time to relocate into the shadows of a darkened alleyway without being spotted.

"It was probably vermin or something." Blast Off guessed. "We've been gone for so long the city is probably crawling with 'em."

The other two Decepticons shrugged, seeing this as a reasonable explanation, still oblivious to the fact that they were being watched.

"That was too close." Sideswipe commented from within the shadows.

"Agreed." Arcee replied. "Let's get out of here."

The trio of Autobots moved through the alley and into an expansive plaza on the other side of the buildings. Like the rest of the city, rubble littered the streets and a statue of Megatron which once stood in its centre now lay in pieces.

As they moved through the urban clearing Jazz finally built up the nerve to speak. "Arcee, why'd you-"

He was cut off when he saw the figure in the street ahead. The Decepticon was very large and bulky; way bigger than any of the Autobots present. He had silver armour with purple markings and a rather menacing tank barrel lay over his shoulder.

The Autobots had no time to hide as the Decepticon turned his attention to them, violet optics staring back. The four bots stood there for a moment, still and silent, as if hoping that their enemy didn't see them. Before long, the Decepticon let out a deep and ferocious growl, altering his body into a Cybertronian tank and opening fire on his foe.

The Autobots barely had time to move as the blasts tore into their environment. "Scrap. That's Quake!" Sideswipe yelled to his teammates.

"Wonderful, at least we now know who's trying to kill us!" Arcee shouted back, her sarcasm surfacing.

"What do we do?" Jazz asked from behind the cover of a debris pile.

Arcee narrowed her optics at the Decepticon tank blocking their path. "Drive!"

The Autobots clambered out from behind their cover and sprinted past the Decepticon, dodging tank shells and taking a couple of pot shots of their own. They all transformed into their vehicle modes, weaving in and out of fire as they raced past the much slower moving tank.

Just as the Autobots were out of range of Quake however, three Decepticon jets soared overhead. Having heard the commotion caused by the brief firefight in the plaza, Starscream and the two Combaticons rushed to investigate.

"There they are!" Starscream yelled to Blast Off and Vortex. "Open fire!"

The two jets and helicopter let forth a stream of purple laser fire at the Autobots below, chipping and scorching the road around them.

"This day just keeps getting better." Jazz remarked, narrowly avoiding vaporization.

Up ahead, the road ended at the cusp of a deep ravine. Large sewage pipes and cracks littered the inside of the urban gorge. Starscream saw this as a dead end for his prey. "Pathetic fools! There's no escape!" He yelled triumphantly.

Jazz however, saw this as an opportunity for escape, although a risky one. "I have a plan!" He told Arcee and Sideswipe. "But I need you to trust me!"

"Just do it!" Arcee yelled back over the sounds of gunfire.

"Sideswipe, do you still have your grappling hook?"

"Sure do." Came the rather casual reply.

"Right. If we drive off this cliff then we should be able to lose them in the underground tunnels!"

"What about those of us who don't happen to have a grappling hook built into their arm?!" Arcee asked.

"I'll catch you Arcee. You'll be fine." Jazz assured her.

"Great."

There was no time for anymore sarcastic remarks as the ravine's edge drew even nearer. Engaging maximum overdrive, the Autobots soared off the edge at full speed, transforming soon after. Arcee managed to turn in mid-air and open fire at their pursuers, clipping Starscream's wing.

Arcee's satisfied smirk did not last for long however, as Cybertron's gravity began to take hold. She felt herself plummet towards the ground at alarming speeds, her energon tank feeling as if it was still far above her. At the last possible moment she felt an arm wrap itself around her as she was suddenly yanked aside and into a dark sewage tunnel in the ravine's wall.

"You could have done that earlier." Arcee directed at Jazz in an annoyed tone, who was busy retracting his grappling hook back into his arm, along with Sideswipe.

"Yeah, but where's the fun in that?" The white Autobot grinned back at her.

Arcee considered punching him, but eventually decided against it. "Come on. Let's go before they figure out what's happened."

Starscream stood at the edge of the ravine, clutching his scorched wing as he looked down into its depths. "Where did they go?" He asked Vortex and Blast Off, who were either side of him.

Vortex shrugged. "I dunno. Probably went into one of the tunnels I guess."

"You didn't see?"

"I'm sorry 'Scream, but I was a little busy trying not to crash into you and avoid being shot by that little blue one!"

Starscream growled and clenched his fist tightly. "Arcee..." She has been responsible for more than a few of his 'setbacks' and Starscream swore that he would one day find a way to return the favour, in kind.

"Alert Shockwave! I'm sure he has prepared for this sort of thing, in all his wisdom..."

* * *

**So there's my longest chapter so far! Please review and stuff so I know what was gud and what was not. I want to get all of this finished up as soon as I can, that way I can use the foundations layed in this story to write the next one, which I'm really excited about! Until next time! ;)**


	11. Chapter 11: The Beast Within

**Thank you everyone who has taken the time to review!**

**In response to game-watch: I wasn't originally going to include Scorponok in this story. But now that you mention it, I may be able to squeeze him in somewhere...**

* * *

**The follow ties into the events of Fall of Cybertron.**

* * *

The three Autobots walked along the dark tunnel, headlights shining brightly over its dim interior. Each one of their footfalls were translated into a splashing sound, as their legs became coated in the strange liquid waste that covered the tunnel's base. None of them wanted to think about what the fluid was.

They walked in silence for a good few minutes, no one could think of a good enough ice breaker after their previous encounter with the Decepticons not too long ago.

Eventually Arcee broke the uncomfortable silence with a tired sigh. "Jazz, about Starscream…"

"What?" The white Autobot shot back, optics flaring for a moment. "Why did you stop me from blowing the slimeball's brain module out after what he did to Cliffjumper?!" He sounded a little irritated by her actions, but was more confused as to why she did what she did.

"Jazz, killing Starscream would not bring Cliff back. You'll just start down the path which I once trod; wanting the revenge which will never satisfy you. So please, just let it go. Think of what Optimus would've wanted."

Jazz deeply vented air through his mouth, staring at the ceiling ahead in thought for a moment. "Yeah..." He replied in a much calmer voice. "I guess I did kinda blow our cover..." He added sheepishly.

Arcee smirked. "Let's just leave that bit out in our report to Magnus." She playfully punched his arm with a soft clanging sound, glad to see Jazz start to return to normal.

They were soon interrupted by a loud roar which echoed down the dark tunnel.

"Uh. What was that?" Sideswipe asked, doing a poor job at disguising the growing fear and panic in his voice.

The beastly roar sounded again, this time louder than before.

"I think we're about to find out." Jazz answered.

From around the corner of the tunnel a large shadow drew nearer, eventually revealing the true cause of the sound. The being was huge, at least triple the size of any of the Autobots present. Two small arms protruded from the beast's metal hide, and a powerful tail swung viciously from side to side. Its mouth was lined with countless rows of razor sharp teeth, each one as long as a Cybertronian finger.

The primal being beheld the Autobots with ruby optics, growling softly as it processed the situation. The beast reared its head back before unleashing yet another ear-splitting roar.

The trio of Autobots understood the message clearly. "Run!" Arcee yelled.

They all doubled back and sprinted the way they came. The predator behind them was quick to take off after them, moving with alarming speed.

"What is that thing?!" Sideswipe shouted with clear panic in his voice.

"I don't know but I don't want to stick around to find out!" Jazz quipped back.

They turned another random corner and their sparks sunk in dread as they realised that they had reached a dead end.

"Scrap!" Arcee cursed angrily. "Now we're trapped!"

There was no time to turn back as the pursuing beast drew nearer.

"Well, we may as well fight our way out of this one." Sideswipe told the other Autobots, clenching his fists. He could feel his initial fear and panic being replaced with adrenaline, his systems reading to fight at first notice. The giant predator came into view as it rounded the corner.

Sideswipe roared, charging the beast at full pelt. Before he could be snatched up in its jaws, he transformed and drove under the predator's legs. He then quickly changed back, using the large tail to propell himself onto the monster's back. Activating his in-built blasters on his arms Sideswipe roared again as he unleashed a volley of fire into the beast's back.

The giant reeled back in fury, exposing a glowing red insignia on its underbelly.

"Sideswipe, wait!" Jazz yelled over the sound of blaster fire. "This is an Autobot!"

At the mention of the faction the beast stared at Jazz, optics full of recognition and intelligence. Suddenly, the huge form lurched backwards, violently throwing Sideswipe off. The creature was transforming. Legs became arms and the powerful tail folded into its back. A featureless faceplate with only a glowing red visor connected to a broad chest that bore the Autobot insignia. Before the scouting team stood a hulking figure, so large that he would've made Optimus Prime look small, just barely fitting in the tunnel. He roared at the ceiling again, almost triumphantly.

"Grimlock?!" Jazz exclaimed, clearly recognising the bot but still not quite believing what he just saw.

The red visor turned to look at him. "J-J-Jazz..." The big bot barely managed in a deep voice that could easily be mistaken for a growl.

"What happened to you? Did Shockwave do this?" Jazz remembered hearing that Grimlock's team were captured by the Decepticon scientist but somehow managed to escape. What he did not know was what happened in between those two events.

Grimlock's fists clenched tightly, and he let out a growl filled with unmistakable hatred. "Shockwave..." Jazz may not know what happened, but Grimlock certainly did, first-hand.

The other Autobots flinched slightly at his aggressive response. Jazz finally mustered up the courage to pull the Dinobot from his hate-filled thoughts. "Where are the others?"

The visor bore down at him again. "Gone. We had to split up. It was too risky with these modes; they are difficult to c-control." He growled again, his thoughts once again turning to the cause of his predicament. "Shockwave will pay..."

The titan stood there for a moment, visor focused on nothing. "Uh. Grimlock?" Jazz was becoming increasingly more worried for everyone's safety.

Rage began to fill Grimlock's circuits again, the thought of revenge spreading like wildfire. He roared, a pained and ferocious sound that had the Autobots wince as their audio receptors were assaulted with it. His body began to change again, slowly shifting into his bestial alt-mode while fury overcame him. He could only clear his mind enough to give one last request to the Autobots. "R-RUN!"

They didn't need to be told twice. The trio quickly ran past the altering bot before he could corner them again. Jazz however, stopped momentarily to offer a form of comfort. "We'll come back for you Grim, I promise!"

A feral growl was the only response that was given as the transformation neared completion. "Jazz, we need to go. Now!" Arcee pleaded to him. Taking one last look at the newly formed beast, Jazz followed the others down the tunnel.

The three Autobots sprinted as fast as they could and did not stop until the roars became distant. As they stopped for a brief rest, Sideswipe noticed something on the wall. "Hey! I think I've found a way out!" He relieved with glee.

Jazz and Arcee followed his gaze, noticing a slightly corroded ladder leading up the wall and to a circular hatch above. "Thank Primus." Arcee sighed, activating her blaster and blowing the rusted hatch open, allowing daylight to sleep through. "If I spend another nano-cycle down here I think I'm gonna rust."

…

Unbeknownst to the trio of Autobots, they had been watched the whole time by a small purple spider-like drone that had scuttled behind them in the dark. The drone was relaying a live video feed to Shockwave back in his lab. It wasn't the Autobots who his attention was on however.

Having seen Grimlock transform in the tunnel, Shockwave had at first bore a scientific fascination at his creation's continued survival. He then began to experience a feeling that he had not felt in mega-cycles: anger.

He remembered how his 'pet' had escaped, tore apart his work and soldiers before finally confronting the target of his fury. After the explosion Shockwave awoke, alone and missing an arm among the rubble of his space bridge.

Shockwave felt his fist close so tightly that it trembled, before violently slamming it down onto the computer console, sparks flying. Grimlock would not escape him this time.

* * *

**So Shockwave is mad.**

**The real problem that I faced was making Shockwave more of an interesting villain, so here he is struggling with emotion. This whole idea takes inspiration from the g1 marvel comics if you hadn't noticed already, which was my first proper introduction to the character (minus the g1 cartoon where he barely did anything).**

**So stuff is gonna happen soon. Please review if you can and I'll see you in the next update! ;)**


	12. Chapter 12: Revelations and Regrets

Arcee, Jazz and Sideswipe trudged through the groundbridge portal, metal plating covered in scratches and grime accumulated from their last mission.

When Ratchet saw their condition his optics dilated in surprise. "By the Allspark, what did you three go through?"

"A sewer." Sideswipe shrugged nonchalantly, oblivious to the strange looks that he received from the doctor and Ultra Magnus, who strode towards them.

"Autobots, were you successful in scouting Kaon for signs of Decepticon activity?" The commander asked them, while Ratchet was busy scanning the trio with a holographic tool built into his forearm.

"We got a good look alright." Jazz answered. "And not all of its good."

Ultra Magnus raised a concerned eyebrow. "Hmm. Very well, get yourselves cleaned up and prepare to give a full debrief in thirty milli-cycles."

The three of them nodded, Arcee having to shrug off Ratchet's endless scans. "We're fine Ratchet." She assured him. "All I need is a good oil bath..."

Several Autobots sat inside the briefing room, watching as the now clean and very much refreshed recon team detailed their last mission from a console that displayed the Decepticon city of Kaon.

"It wasn't long before we encountered Starscream, along with two Combaticons." Arcee told the crowd, sparking a chorus of mutterings among them. "Apparently the rest of the team is scattered in stasis lock all over the planet. If the Combaticons reunite..."

"Then keeping control of Cybertron will become a lot harder." Jazz finished. This revelation did nothing to ease the Autobots however, only causing more concern to spread.

Ultra Magnus raised his servo for quiet, to which the crowd somewhat oblidged. "Continue." He urged them.

"Right." Jazz straightened his posture. "We unfortunately were spotted...by Quake." Several gasps and growls filled the room. "However!" Jazz has to raise his voice over the crowd. "We managed to lose them in...ah...a sewer." Several chuckles now replaced the cries. "It was there that we found...Grimlock."

The room fell silent. No Autobot had seen or heard from Grimlock in centuries. Most assumed him to be either killed or missing in action. Some had even doubted he existed in the first place. But now, according to Jazz's team, he was alive.

Jazz continued. "But he was...different. Said his team split up because they were a danger to each other. I don't know what Shockwave did to them but it sure wasn't good."

Ultra Magnus furrowed his metallic brow. "Hmm... Ratchet, would it be possible to somehow reverse the effects of Shockwave's modifications?"

The medic stroked his chin in thought. "Possibly. Although I would first need an Energon sample to know for sure what was done to him."

"Then it would seem that we are in need of some volunteers."

The crowd shifted around uncomfortably. Going after a half self-aware Grimlock seemed like suicide to most. Any bot crazy enough to take up a mission like that was bound to have a few bolts loose.

"I'll go." A red bot with flame decals stepped forwards, his servo raised for further clarification.

Ultra Magnus raised an eyebrow. "Hot Rod, is it?"

"Yep."

The Autobot commander thought for a moment before calling out again. "Anyone else?"

Another figure moved towards the front of the crowd. A dark green bot emerged, he was much older than the others, but also more experienced. "I'll accompany the kid. He could use the backup. Besides, I used to know Grimlock pretty well, perhaps I could try and talk to him."

"Very well Kup. Ratchet will brief you tomorrow morning."

Kup nodded in response.

Ultra Magnus straightened even more so than he already was, as he addressed the remainder of the room.

"As for the rest of us, our next course of action is clear. We will assemble a strike team and leave for Kaon at first light. It is absolutely paramount that we stop the Decepticons now before they can get any stronger. The future of an Autobot Cybertron rests on our shoulders. Make sure you recharge well tonight so you are ready to gear up and head out at dawn. Autobots, dismissed!"

The Autobot lay still, shackled against the wall with chains of iron in a dark chamber. He wore mostly white armour, which was now scratched and dented in places. The bot had a similar build to Wheeljack, though he was a little bulkier.

The Autobot onlined his optics as the door to his cell opened, allowing a blindingly bright light to shine through. He raised his head slowly, and saw an all too familiar skeletal Decepticon before him.

"Ah. Bludgeon." The Autobot sounded weak but his defiance outweighed the pain. "I hear you're Shockwave's new lapdog. How's that working out for you?" A slight smile permeated his silver face as he saw Bludgeon's growing irritation.

"I serve no master!" He growled from behind the mask. "You know that Drift, better than anyone."

"I know you're a murderer and a traitor." Drift spat back.

"Am I? I was only eliminating those who Megatron saw as a threat."

"So you do have a master."

"No! The Decepticons were only a means to an end. Once they had fulfilled their purpose, I intended to terminate Megatron. I gave you all a choice. But you and your precious circle of light decided that you shouldn't get involved in the war. Cowards. What was the point in training, if we weren't supposed to fight? At least Megatron offered me a way to use my talents, which is more than I can say for you."

"Release these cuffs and I'll show you what my training was for."

"Ha! You think I'm like Megatron? That you can coax me into freeing you just to satisfy my ego? No. We will have our last battle, when I see fit. But do not worry, when Shockwave is no longer of use to me, I'll let you see my new empire before I rip out your spark."

Drift snorted. "I'll be looking forward to it." He answered sarcastically.

"I certainly will." Bludgeon's ruby optics gleamed at the thought before he turned to exit the chamber. "This has been a nice talk. I'll come and pay you a visit again sometime. Don't go anywhere!" He cackled maniacally as he sealed Drift off from the world again.

Drift lowered his head on his torso again, closing his optics and delving into the memories of that fateful day...

"Master? Master!"

Drift's panicked shouts echoed throughout the ruins of the Cybertronian temple. When no answer was given within a few seconds he frantically began searching through piles of debris, desperate to find any sign of life. All he found were broken weapons and severed limbs, causing him to reel back in digust.

A pained groan came from the other end of the building. "D-Drift..."

Drift quickly moved to the source of the voice to find his master, Dai Atlas, lying at the base of a shattered shrine to Primus. He was a strongly built bot, his blue and gold armour almost making him seem like royalty. His hand was at a large wound to his side, that was spilling a river of energon over the pristine white floor.

"Master." Drift knelt by his side. "Who did this?"

"B-Bludgeon." The older bot managed. "He came here with a battalion of Decepticons and gave us a choice: Join him or die. We-" He coughed up some energon. "-said we wanted no part in the war, and things...got out of hand..."

"That fragging scrapheap. I knew he couldn't be trusted. We'll deal with him as soon as I've patched you up." Drift moved to stand up but was stopped by his master's servo.

"No. It's...too late for me."

Drift didn't want to believe it, but he knew it was true. "I'm sorry master, I shouldn't have gone to the Autobot negotiations. I should have stayed here where I belong, I would've-"

"You would have been slaughtered along with the rest of us." His master assured him. "Do not mourn the past young warrior, but seek a better future."

"But what do I do? The circle is gone. I have no purpose."

"Yes you do. My mission is now yours. This war, all wars, must end. You are now the last knight, and I trust you'll make the right choice." His voice was become weaker with every word.

"I'm not like you master, I'm not as strong, or skilled, or wise-"

"I-I believe in you Drift, you'll be able to stop Bludgeon, of this I am certain. B-But be sure to remain humble, and know that your mind is more powerful than any blade..."

With the last of his strength finally ebbing, Dai Atlas' crimson optics dimmed before fading completely. His body lay still.

Drift squeezed his old master's hand, his optics shut tight to stop the streams of energon from pouring out. After a few moments he steeled himself, he was a warrior and had a responsibility to uphold. Drift picked up his master's large sword, the blade covered in ancient cybertronian etchings along the gold edges. Drift knew that this was the sword that would be the end of Bludgeon, a diplomatic solution was not an option for either of them.

Drift stood and waved his hand over his master's corpse, muttering a final blessing in ancient cybertronian.

"Till All Are One..."

* * *

**So Drift and Bludgeon have a little bit of a rivalvy. It might have something to do with the latter killing their master...****I mixed Drift with a bit of IDW and Animated Prowl (for the backstory) in case you wondered where I got the inspiration from.****Now I'm beginning to worry that I have too many characters to focus on but I'll do my best to balance things out.****The next chapter will probably be a big one, so stay tuned and be patient! I'm trying to do as much as I can on this with my somewhat limited spare time...****Please review and I'll catch you in the next update! ;)**


	13. Chapter 13: This Is War

**Phew. Its been a while hasn't it? Almost a month! Sorry for the long wait but juggling this story along with other stuff in my life is no easy task. Not to mention that this chapter is my longest so far. Anyway, I'll try and get the next one out before Christmas but until then I hope that you enjoy this chapter! **

* * *

"Your decision was most illogical."

Shockwave's words echoed around the dark prison chamber. Its only recipient lay shackled against the far wall, bound by old but strong iron chains.

The other bot was clearly not a Decepticon, the bright red insignia on his torso confirmed that. The Autobot wasn't very large but strongly built, similar in size and shape to the likes of Smokescreen and Bumblebee. He turned his red crested head to look at Shockwave, blue optics staring into the singular cold void of crimson.

"My decision to join the Autobots had worked out well so far, which is more than I can say for your affiliation." The black and white bot retorted. "It looks as if you've lost the war, even Megatron seems to have given up. So tell me Shockwave, what's the logic in prolonging your defeat from the bowels of a now shattered empire?"

Shockwave's 'face' betrayed no emotion, his single red eye simply stared back. "Prowl, I still have plans for this world, and with Megatron now factored out of the equation, I can execute my vision of a improved Cybertron. The Autobots simply stand in the way of my goal, they are nothing more than an obstacle to eliminate." He conveyed with little hint of feeling.

"Yet they've forced you to crawl into a hole back in Kaon."

"A temporary setback, I can assure you."

Prowl scoffed.

Shockwave studied him, if he had a face he would've smirked at the Autobot. "You are an interesting specimen, you will make a fine template for my new soldiers."

Prowl hid his fear of becoming Shockwave's latest experiment with more sarcasm. "What's the matter? Vehicons not cutting it for you anymore?"

"The Vehicons were more cannon fodder to the Autobots than anything else. Most of them have either joined the Autobots or been destroyed. I'm proposing something far more effective."

Prowl's stare did not falter.

"You shall see." Shockwave continued. "Your Autobot friends won't be a problem for much longer." His conversation finished, the Decepticon scientist turned and exited the chamber through a steel grey door.

Once he was gone, Prowl chuckled slightly to himself. "We shall see Shockwave." He had planned for this, and knew that the Autobots would be coming. Soon.

The groundbridge portal swirled open in the outskirts of Kaon, a small army of Autobots pouring out of it. Most of them were there, apart from Ratchet, Springer and a few others who had stayed behind either voluntarily or were not considered fit for battle at the current time.

Ultra Magnus stood in front of the squad of Autobots. "I do not need to remind you of the importance of our mission. We must dissolve Decepticon command, capture them alive if possible, but if deadly force is necessary, then it is authorised. We will covertly make our way towards Darkmount, do not use your vehicle modes unless you have to, we can't risk giving the Decepticons time to properly prepare. Autobots, roll out!"

They spent almost half a cycle in silence, not wanting to alert the Decepticons to their presence. Soon the Autobots reached their destination: Darkmount.

The squad hunched behind the various structures and debris surrounding the fortress, so far unseen by the nearby Decepticons.

Ultra Magnus frowned, the Decepticon force here was much larger than he anticipated. "Perhaps our only option is to surprise then with a full-frontal assault." He told the others as quietly as possible.

"Maybe not." Arcee mused, eyeing up a small balcony jutting from the side of the fortress. "Say Bulk, do you think that you could give me a lift up there?" She asked, pointing.

Bulkhead followed her servo to the point of interest. "Sure Cee. But I don't see what difference that's gonna make."

"If I can get inside, then I can sabotage the security system. Without those defences, the 'cons will be a lot easier to take down."

Bulkhead looked to Magnus, who nodded in agreement. He glanced at Arcee worryingly. "Okay, but just be careful."

Arcee playfully rolled her optics. "Seriously, Bulk? I'm always careful." She smirked, extending her wrist blades.

Bulkhead responded with a brief chuckle before lowering his servo to the ground. Arcee stepped on the giant hand, narrowing her eyes at her target.

"You sure you can make this shot Bulk?" She asked him humorously.

Bulkhead chuckled again. "Sure I can Cee. I wasn't the lobbing champion three stellar cycles in a row for my good looks!"

"Two stellar cycles." Wheeljack corrected his friend from behind.

Bulkhead shrugged, and before any more questions could be asked, sent Arcee soaring through the air. She was moving so fast that she went unseen by the Decepticon guards below. The Autobot femme straightened herself as she came to silently land on the balcony, in a crouched position.

She got to get feet and turned to look at the hidden Autobots below, giving them a thumbs up, to which they responded to in a similar fashion.

Arcee quickly got to work, looking for a way to unlock the sealed door that would lead her inside the fortress. It would seem that she wouldn't need to however, as the door seemed to slide open of its own accord. She peered into the dark interior to see Thundercracker emerge from within.

He instantly froze when he saw her. The two remained like that, staring at each other for a few moments before their minds began to fully process the situation.

Thundercracker broke the silence first. "Hey, your not supposed to be here-"

He never managed to finish his sentence before Arcee's fist met with his face. The Decepticon Seeker staggered for a moment before falling to the ground with a clang, unconscious. Arcee winced at the surprisingly loud noise of his body hitting the floor.

She spared one last glance to her Autobot comrades (some of whom were snickering at the events that has just unfolded above them), before heading inside of the gloomy Decepticon fortress.

After an intense couple of minutes sneaking through the dim corridors of Darkmount Arcee finally found a computer console she could use. Unfortunately for her however, it was currently occupied by a Decepticon that she clearly recognised; Skywarp.

Arcee hid just around the corner from the Seeker, deciphering the best way to take him out. Before she could act, an all too familiar voice filled the corridor.

"Ah, Skywarp. There you are. You haven't happened to see Thundercracker around anywhere have you?"

Arcee peered round the corner to see Starscream approach his comrade. She gritted her denta in frustration. There was no way she could take out one without the other raising the alarm.

"No I haven't Starscream." Skywarp sounded annoyed, as if he had been interrupted when in the middle of something. "What do you need him for? You don't usually care for what he's doing."

Arcee could hear Starscream becoming irritated now. "I do not, but Shockwave needs someone with 'scientific expertise' to help him with some project of his."

"So you offered to help, why?"

"Not so much offered, more like forced. Shockwave can be very...persuasive when he wants to be."

"Uh huh."

Starscream growled in frustration slightly. "So are you going to help me or not? I doubt you have anything better to be doing."

Skywarp let out an exasperated sigh. "Fine. But I can tell you where Shockwave can stick his stupid experiments…"

The two Decepticons moved away from the console and down the corridor, though luckily not through the same one that Arcee resided in, much to her relief.

Once she was certain they had gone the blue Autobot snuck over to the now vacant computer terminal. She sifted through the files, ignoring the suspiciously large amount of videos that Skywarp had of other Decepticons falling down flights of stairs.

She eventually found what she was looking for: the controls for Darkmount's defence systems. Although it seemed that she did not have the necessary permissions to disable them. Fortunately, the software was old and had not yet been updated so it didn't take long for her to find a way to exploit the system's weaknesses. She was no expert, but had picked up a thing or two from Ratchet and Rafael during her time on earth.

Arcee activated her comlink. "Commander Magnus, I've disabled the automated defences."

Ultra Magnus' stern tone crackled through the radio. "Good work, and what of the prisoners?"

After a few clicks Arcee managed to bring up the schematics of the fortress. "There seems to be an occupied cell on the lower levels, by Shockwave's lab."

"Understood. We will cause a distraction to give you enough time to free them."

"Copy that sir, I'm making my way there now."

Back outside, Ultra Magnus finished his call with Arcee and turned to the other Autobots.

"Autobots..." He began, cocking his heavy rifle. "Begin our assault!"

With that command, the Autobots charged out from behind their cover and towards the Decepticon fortress, guns blazing.

Hearing the gunfire and surprised yells coming from outside Arcee knew that it was her cue to move. Narrowly missing several groups of Decepticons rushing to join the battle, she quickly made her way down to Shockwave's detention cells. Knowing full well what the cold scientist was capable of, Arcee prayed that she would find Prowl in one piece.

The blue Autobot soon found herself in front of the thick steel door that led to Shockwave's laboratory. Before she could look for a way in, the door hissed open, forcing her to hide behind its frame.

Out of the gloomy room stepped Shockwave. His heavy footfalls were calm and measured, repeating the same rhythmic beat, seemingly unaffected by the battle raging outside.

Suddenly he stopped, footfalls falling silent. As if sensing that he wasn't alone, the cyclops turned to face Arcee's hiding place, single red optic boring into...nothing. Somewhat assured that no one was there, Shockwave continued his slow walk to the battlefield as the door slid shut behind him.

Once she was certain the Decepticon scientist was gone, Arcee slid off her new hiding spot on the ceiling, landing silently in the dim corridor.

"Phew, that was a close one." She said to herself, relieved that the ordeal was over.

Not having the patience nor the time to hack the door controls (though Arcee doubted she could override Shockwave's complex programming), Arcee instead slammed her fist into the panel. Sparks flew, and a few moments later, the door sluggishly slid open.

Impressed with her handiwork, Arcee cautiously entered the lab, not knowing who or what could be inside.

Back in Iacon, Springer, Ratchet, Knock Out and a few other Autobots listened in anxiously to the battlefield updates.

"We've engaged the enemy! Have the med bay prepared Ratchet, just in case!" Ultra Magnus' stern voice crackled over the comms. "Though I hope that-oh no..."

"What is it?" Ratchet asked, concerned with the commander's sudden change in tone.

"Blitzwing's here." That was the last thing the Autobots heard before a ferocious roar filled the comms and the line went dead.

"Scrap!" Ratchet slammed his fist on the console. Almost every Autobot knew how dangerous Blitzwing was, some more than others. His presence could definitely cause...complications.

"Let me through, Doc." Springer told Ratchet, his expression deadly serious.

"No." The medic refused. "Ultra Magnus gave you strict orders to stay behind."

Springer gritted his denta, becoming impatient. "Step aside Ratchet." The larger bot pushed the doctor aside and activated the ground bridge portal, charging through it moments after.

Ratchet got to his feet, just as shocked as the other Autobots. He spoke into the comms again. "Ultra Magnus, if you can hear me, we may have a slight problem..."

Arcee cautiously walked through Shockwave's lab, blaster rifle activated. The tables were full of various different tools and unfinished projects, some of which Arcee did not want to know the intention of, but knew that it couldn't be good.

She quickly made her way to the dull steel door located at the far end of the laboratory. This had to be where the prisoners were. Arcee blasted the lock, destroying the opening mechanism and carefully moved into the dark cell.

The clinking of chains could be heard from the end wall, as the figure tied there awoke to see their visitor. "Ar-Arcee?" The restrained Autobot asked, unbelieving of his rescue.

Arcee's optics widened when she saw the prisoner. "Prowl?!"

Prowl's voice became stronger, and a smirk now permeated his faceplate. "Heh. I know you'd come and rescue me."

"Oh really?" Arcee replied, drawing nearer to the captive.

"I'd calculated it."

"Sure you did." Arcee blasted the thick chains away from Prowl's body, allowing the Autobot to be free once more.

Prowl stroked his wrists and stretched his joints. "Of course I did. I knew you'd never outright attack the Decepticons at such a fragile time, not unless there were other lives at stake. But now we can defeat the Decepticons once and for all."

"And what about Drift? Is he in on this plan of yours too?"

"Oh he's mostly backup. I promised him an opportunity to take down Bludgeon if he allowed himself to be captured."

"That...doesn't sound very ethical."

Prowl shrugged. "I needed results." The Autobot then reached for a small hidden radio transmitter hidden within his chassis. "Luckily the cons who caught me weren't too bothered about checking me over properly. I figured as much. I'll send a signal to Drift to let him know that he's free to leave."

Within the darkness of the Empiron's brig, Drift heard a soft beeping coming from his comlink receiver. Smirking, the warrior knew that Prowl's plan was well underway, and began his escape.

"Oh, Autobots! I knew you'd come and help me escape!" He said, loud enough for the guard outside to hear.

The cell door slid open, and the Decepticon guard entered, blaster rifle raised. "What's going on in here?" He asked, having fallen for Drift's trick. The Autobot remained silent as the guard approached. "How'd your little friends get in here?" He pressed the muzzle of his rifle against Drift's face, the purple glow of the barrel illuminating the Autobot.

Drift said nothing, but instead looked past the Decepticon as if there were someone behind him. Taking the bait, the guard swung round and aimed his rifle into the dark.

Seeing his chance, Drift quickly wrapped his legs around the Decepticon's head, causing the panicked guard to shoot wildly. A couple of shots hit the chains that bound Drift to the wall, allowing the Autobot to break free.

Drift released his hold on the Decepticon guard as he walked free. The disoriented guard soon recovered his senses, pointing his rifle at Drift yet again.

"Hey!" He shouted at the Autobot, only to be met with a swift punch to the jaw, knocking him unconscious instantly.

Drift dusted his servos, admiring his handiwork. "Decepticon guards...never the brightest bots in the bunch."

Ultra Magnus ducked to avoid the ferocious swing of Blitzwing's energon scitmar. The Autobot commander quickly countered with a swift kick to the Decepticon's abdomen, to which Blitzwing grunted.

"Ah. That was good." He cackled, knocking Magnus back with a swift uppercut. "Again!"

The Autobot got to his feet, taking a quick look around the battlefield. He could see the Wreckers taking on the Combaticons, with Bulkhead and Onslaught locked in a fierce duel. The rest of the Autobot team were engaging Starscream's Seekers along with Bludgeon's troops. Magnus gritted his denta, hoping that they'd bought enough time before raising his weapons.

"Again."

"Come on Prowl, we need to get out of here." Arcee impatiently told her comrade, who was busy trying to hack into Shockwave's lab computer.

"Wait! If I can get into Shockwave's files then this war will be as good as over. No more unpleasant surprises for us!"

"We don't have time. That's 6400 bit encryption, it'll take you ages to crack that. Time we don't have."

Prowl grunted in frustration at the computer.

Arcee placed a hand on his shoulder. "We need to go."

It would seem that Arcee wouldn't have to convince Prowl further, because at that moment a small squad of Decepticons entered the room.

"Autobot intruders!" Yelled one, causing the rest to open fire on them.

The two Autobots quickly ducked behind a table to avoid getting hit.

"Well, it looks like we'll be leaving anyway Arcee." Prowl told her.

"Yep. Lucky for us, I came prepared." The femme detached a flash grenade from her hip, and lobbed it over the table at the Decepticons. It detonated, causing their enemies to be temporarily blinded by a bright flash of white light.

Using this distraction to their advantage, the two Autobots transformed and raced out of Shockwave's lab, blaster fire hot on their wheels.

Ultra Magnus grunted as he was once again thrown to the ground by Blitzwing. Out of the corner of his optic he could see that Drift had somehow joined the battle, and was busy carving a path to Bludgeon with his deadly blade. Ironhide was now locked in a duel with Shockwave, who had recently appeared from within the fortress and was dangerously close to turning the tide with his unrivalled firepower.

The Autobot commander tried to get to his feet but was beaten back down by a strong blow from his opponent.

"You're making this too easy for me Magnus." Blitzwing lamented. "Looks like I'll have to find a better dance partner."

As he prepared to drive his sword into the commander's spark chamber, the Decepticon suddenly became distracted by something in the sky. The clap of rotor blades could be heard as a green Cybertronian helicopter descend upon the battle.

"BLITZWING!!!" Springer roared as he transformed and slammed into the Decepticon, sending him stumbling back.

Blitzwing wiped a small stream of energon from his mouth, eyeing his opponent with clear interest. "Ah. The Wrecker."

Springer only stared back, gripping his long steel sword firmly.

"Prepare to die!" Blitzwing told the Autobot, charging him with his scitmar.

The Decepticon stabbed and slashed at Springer, only for every blow to be parried. Blitzwing grunted in frustration as his opponent struck back with a flurry of his own strikes, pushing the Decepticon back.

As the two warriors battled it out, Ultra Magnus managed to pick himself up off the ground and steadily rose to his feet. While he was grateful that the Wrecker had shown up and saved his life, Magnus still planned on berating him for his recklessness later on.

The commander was distracted from his thoughts by the sound of two engines approaching. He recognised the vehicles as they transformed in front of him.

"Arcee. Prowl." The white Autobot gave the commander a brief nod. "It is good to see that our mission is complete. Now I hope that we can still win this battle."

As if on cue, Ironhide's body fell at their feet. The red Autobot did not look in good shape either, dents and laser burns covered his chassis, and a thick column of smoke rose from his torso.

The three Autobots looked up to see Shockwave lower his cannon, and readied their own weapons.

It was becoming increasingly clear to Ultra Magnus that they weren't going to win this battle. Looking around he could see the other Autobots becoming tired, while the Decepticons continued their onslaught. As much as he hated it, he made his decision.

"Autobots, retreat!" He called for all of the Autobots to fall back while Arcee radioed Ratchet for a ground bridge.

Prowl looked as if he was about to argue, before also coming to the conclusion that the battle was lost. Even Drift followed the stream of Autobots making their way to the swirling portal, having restrained himself from recklessly duelling Bludgeon despite his desire for revenge (or justice as he would call it). Bulkhead helped Magnus pull Ironhide through the portal, ready for the medical bay.

As the last of the Autobots withdrew from the battlefield Ultra Magnus called out to Springer, who was still fighting Blitzwing. "Springer! Fall back now! That is an order!"

Springer gritted his denta in frustration. He hated Magnus giving him orders, and he also hated Blitzwing. But he knew that if he stayed he was as good as dead.

Before he could make his decision a torrent of blaster fire hit Blitzwing, causing the giant Decepticon to fall backwards. Springer looked back to see Ultra Magnus by the portal, blasters raised. The green Autobot dashed through the vortex, through the sea of Decepticon laser fire, disappearing in a flash of white.

Ultra Magnus spared one last look at Shockwave, who stared back, unmoving as his troops marched up beside him. The Autobot commander turned and fled through the now closing portal, following his comrades as the sound of Starscream's laughter filled the empty battlefield.

Their war was not over. In fact, the war for Cybertron had only just begun.

**Whoa. Looks like there's still more fighting to come. There was so much to write here that I left out a few bits like Drift and Bludgeon's brief duel. There were just too many characters to focus on! Anyway, I hope that you enjoyed this longer read. The journey has only just begun! Until next time! ;) **


	14. Chapter 14: Bottled Up

**Hello again! Sorry for going silent for so long but life has been really hectic for me recently and I sort of lost the motivation to write. I'm still busy now but there seems to be a brief calm at the moment, allowing me to collect my thoughts. My biggest problem with writing this story is the lack of a plan I have. I know what I want to do in the sequels, but not this one (I'm mainly setting things up atm). So as I've said before, I really need to get more organised before I go too far... ****Anyways, I hope that you enjoy this rather short chapter!**

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The two Autobots walked cautiously, headlights illuminating the dark tunnel.

"Do you even think he's still down here Kup?" The red Autobot with flame decals asked the other.

The older bot nodded. "If I know Grimlock, he'll always stand his ground."

"Riiight." Hot Rod was beginning to regret volunteering for this mission. All he wanted was something interesting to do but now he was doubting the supposed benefits of the task.

The young Autobot suddenly froze as a ferocious roar filled the tunnel. "I think he's close." He said with obvious fear.

"Yep. He's close alright." Kup replied, drawing a blaster rifle from his back, just in case things got out of hand, which he guessed they probably will if Grimlock is involved.

The silhouette of a bipedal beast grew larger as Grimlock rounded the tunnel's corner. He gazed at them with ruby red optics, processing what he saw before him.

Unfortunately, his primal instincts took over after a few moments, and he charged them with ferocity. Hot Rod yelped and quickly moved out of his destructive path.

"Grimlock, wait-!" Kup called out to him before leaping out the way of the behemoth, narrowly avoiding his razor sharp jaws.

Kup blasted a few rounds into Grimlock's thick metal hide, a warning to keep him at bay. The titan only roared back in annoyance.

"Great plan Kup!" Hot Rod remarked sarcastically. "Have you tried the universal greeting?"

The older bot paused for a moment in thought before coming to a realisation. "That might just work kid." He smiled.

Hot Rod slumped his shoulders. "I wasn't serious."

"Hey Grim!" Kup shouted to the giant, who glowered at him in return. Kup bowed slightly, and offered a small chip of energon to the titan. "Bah Weep Granna Weep Ninny Bong."

Grimlock moved his head towards the energon, almost sniffing it with his sensors. He then took a large bite and swallowed the chip whole, without taking Kup's hand with it.

Grimlock growled softly, seemingly calmer now, allowing Kup to cautiously approach. The older bot placed a servo on his snout, attempting to further comfort the Dinobot. In a matter of moments the beast was no longer there and was instead replaced with the towering robot form of Grimlock.

"W-w-what do you want?" He asked, his voice sounded more concerned than angry however. "K-kup?"

Kup offered a small smile to the titan. "Yes its me Grimlock, and this is Hot Rod." He pointed back at the younger bot who was still trying to hide, and offered a nervous wave when he saw Grimlock staring at him. "Now what we want is to help you."

"H-how?"

Kup retrieved a large syringe from his chassis storage, causing Grimlock to lurch back, remembering Shockwave's laboratory. "Relax Grimlock." Kup told him, somewhat easing the titan. "All we need is a small energon sample, that way we can find a cure for...whatever's wrong with you."

"No. No cure."

"What?"

"My beast form, it is p-part of me now. I d-don't think there is a way b-back..."

"Of course there is Grim, Ratchet just needs a sample to find it."

Grimlock huffed but let Kup extract a small amount of energon into the syringe.

"You n-need to leave now." Grimlock told them. "I could turn back at a-any moment. N-not safe for you here, with m-me."

Kup seemed reluctant to leave the Dinobot, but Hot Rod placed a hand on his shoulder. "Come on Kup, let's go. We can come back once we've found a way to help him."

Kup sighed. "Yeah, I guess you're right kid. See you around Grimlock." He gave the giant a quick farewell salute before he and Hot Rod dashed down the tunnel, once again leaving Grimlock alone.

The groundbridge portal dissolved as soon as Kup and Hot Rod had entered the base.

"We got it!" Hot Rod grinned, gesturing to the large syringe in Kup's servo, now full of energon. Then he realised the situation in front of him.

Ratchet and Knock Out rushed back and forth, directing the wounded and the well to their appropriate positions. "I'm leaking over here, hello?" Wheeljack moaned from the medical berth he lay on, clutching his bleeding arm through gritted denta.

Kup approached Ultra Magnus, who stood to the side, covered in dents and scratches, but otherwise unharmed, a stern scowl upon his face.

"What happened?" Kup asked the commander.

Ultra Magnus appeared to momentarily snap out of his staring contest with the wall to focus on the older bot. He sighed. "The Decepticons were more powerful than we first anticipated. We...barely managed to get out in one piece."

"Oh." It now dawned on Kup that their war still raged on. "At least we might be able to get Grimlock back on our side." He tried to sound optimistic, holding the syringe up to Magnus.

The corner of the commander's mouth twitched, almost betraying a smile. "That's the first good news I've heard all day." He took the container from Kup and stared at its contents. He was no medical expert but the energon looked thicker and more of a darker hue of blue than usual. "I shall pass this onto Ratchet once he has a free nano-cycle..."


	15. Chapter 15: Skirmish In The Sewers

Onslaught, Bludgeon and Starscream all stood facing Shockwave in the scientist's laboratory. "We may have driven the Autobots back for the moment, but they will return once they've recovered, no doubt with a larger force." Shockwave turned to address his commanding officers.

Starscream leaned against the wall of Shockwave's laboratory. "Surely now that they've tasted the might of the reformed Decepticon armada, the Autobots will think twice before engaging us again."

The scientist drew his single optic to focus on the Seeker for a moment, before replying. "Your argument is logical Starscream," He admitted. "However, the addition of more units to their army has led to some...unpredictable variables. We will need to take as many precautions as necessary in order to maintain the security of our cause, as well as that of our eventual goal." The scientist warned his subordinates.

Starscream gave a subtle eyeroll, despairing at the scientist's caution.

"Then might I suggest we focus all our efforts into recovering the remaining Combaticons." Onslaught spoke up. "My team will make short work of these Autobot remnants once we're back up to full strength."

"Your point has been noted, Onslaught. Though I do not wish to place the future of our empire in the hands of a single unit, I am close to accurately calculating the location of another Combaticon. You will recover him as soon as I am finished to further aid our effort."

Onslaught's body tensed. Did Shockwave not have faith in their abilities? Or was he just being overly cautious as usual?

Shockwave turned to the third Decepticon before him. "Bludgeon, bring Blitzwing and Quake here. I have a mission for you."

The samurai Decepticon simply nodded before turning and walking out of the room to fetch his companions. Shockwave had a plan that could cause the fall of the Autobots through one of their own. It was a brutally simple but logical plan. At least he thought it was logical, or was that irritating nagging sensation in the back of his processor a shred of emotion that played a part in dictating his course of action?

Torchlight reflected off the murky streams flowing through the old sewage tunnel. "So, why are we here again?" Asked Quake as he Bludgeon and Blitzwing led their team through Kaon's sewer system.

No one gave an answer, either because they didn't care or didn't pay attention. Quake however, saw this as an invitation to continue. "I mean, what does Shockwave want with Grimlock? Is it so that he can let him escape again and lose another arm?"

Blitzwing gave a grunt that might have been a laugh and an amused smile formed beneath Bludgeon's mask. "You better hope I don't tell him you said that." The Samurai told his lieutenant.

"What? You gonna do a Soundwave on me?"

"Ha! That's the difference between Shockwave and Megatron you see; no one's watching his back."

"Unless they're planning on shooting him in it."

Blitzwing gave another grunt that Quake was certain was a laugh this time.

They walked a little further until Quake spoke up again. "I hope we find him soon or my servos are gonna rust." He complained loudly, wading through the ankle deep green sludge. It was centuries old waste energon combined with other elements that Quake didn't want to think about.

"It's not so bad," Bludgeon told him. "He can't have gotten far. His speed is much lesser than his strength."

"So do you think it's true then?"

"What?"

"That he's really as powerful as everyone says he is."

Bludgeon had no time to reply before a thunderous roar echoed through the tunnel. "I think..." He said reaching for his sword, the sound of heavy footsteps getting louder. "... that we're about to find out."

The Dinobot bolted around the corner and charged towards them, head lowered. Blitzwing cackled, placing himself at the front of the group. Grimlock slammed into him with great force, pushing the Decepticon back as he wrapped his arms around the beast's thick neck.

Blitzwing grunted, trying to stand his ground, but his feet were slipping on the slimy floor. Eventually, the Dinobot shook his head violently, throwing the Decepticon off several feet down the tunnel.

The fight was far from over however, as a volley of blaster fire rained down onto the giant. Grimlock roared and began to tear through the Decepticon troops, causing them to flee for their lives.

Another roar escaped Grimlock's mouth as he suddenly felt a burning sensation slash across his back. He turned to see Bludgeon, sword unsheathed, standing behind him.

"Your hide is almost as thick as your skull." The Samurai taunted, twirling his sword. "Stand and fight you cowards!" He ordered his troops.

Before Grimlock could confront his attacker, several explosive shells slammed into him, resulting in more pain and anger for the Dinobot.

"Quake," Bludgeon growled after the dust began to settle. "Keep explosives to a minimum! These tunnels are old and the last thing we want is to be buried down here along with him!"

The purple Cybertronian tank shifted itself into a bipedal figure. "Fine." Replied Quake, readying his fists and charging the Dinobot, only for himself and Bludgeon to be swatted aside by his tail.

Grimlock had a brief moment of rest before Blitzwing came at him again. But this time he was ready, breathing a column of fire onto the Decepticon. Grimlock stopped after a few seconds, believing his adversary to be destroyed, only for Blitzwing to leap out of the flames, armour charred and smoking. The Decepticon delivered a powerful kick to the giant's jaw, making him stumble backwards.

Not wanting to give Grimlock another moment to recover, Bludgeon and Quake got to their feet and charged again, slamming their fists and blades into his hide, inflicting even more damage and pain onto the titan.

Grimlock roared again, trying to throw off his attackers but he was quickly losing his strength. Blitzwing ran at the giant, using the jets on his feet to propel himself forward and deliver a bone shattering blow to the Dinobot's skull.

Letting out another weak roar, Grimlock collapsed to the ground with a crash, his body subconsciously altering itself into his robot form. He lay there, grunting and struggling to regain his senses.

Bludgeon stood over the defeated Dinobot, impressed with the fight he put up. He now understood why Shockwave wanted him captured so badly. "Not bad for an Autobot." He mused.

Grimlock managed to roll over onto his back, staring up at Bludgeon from behind his ruby visor. "I-I'm no Autobot." He retorted.

Bludgeon smirked from beneath his mask, amused by the response, before he brought his foot down on Grimlock's face, turning the Dinobot's vision to black.

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**So I've got back into the swing of writing again (I think). This chapter only took me a couple of days to write after I got my plan all sorted out. I hope that my writing is improving with each chapter and that you're enjoying it (or not). Either way please leave a review for me if you can! I've got exams to focus on over the next few months but I'll try and stay organised enough to get this done! Until next time! ;) **


	16. Chapter 16: Sweeping and Swooping

**Sorry I've been gone for a while (nearly two months. Ouch!). I was really busy and my interest for this story seems to be forever fluctuating. But being in lockdown and having my exams cancelled has really freed up my time and help me become less lazy with my writing schedule (seeing as I have little else to do).****Anyways, I hope that you are all doing well during this crisis and remember to wash your hands!****\- End of PSA**

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The outskirts of Iacon lay mostly in ruins; the Autobots' rebuilding efforts largely focused on the city centre. The high rise buildings stood as tall skeletons, casting looming shadows on the Autobot search party below.

The group comprised of Bumblebee, Bulkhead, Smokescreen and Ironhide, and they were looking for a long lost comrade.

"So what makes Ratchet think that we'll find a Dinobot here?" Asked Smokescreen.

Bumblebee gave him an answer. "The sample Ratchet examined allowed him to roughly locate their mutated spark signature, which was a side effect of the changes Shockwave made to them."

"Roughly?"

Bumblebee shrugged. "Give or take a few hundred klicks."

Smokescreen groaned. "So say we do manage to find one, how are we going to convince it not to attack us?"

"We won't have to. All we need to do is to get close enough to inject this into them." Bumblebee held up a small canister containing slightly green looking energon.

"An antidote?"

"Kind of. Weren't you listening to the mission brief?"

"Nah. I fell asleep."

The other bots stared at him.

"What?!" Smokescreen protested. "Its Magnus not me! It's like he goes out of his way to make things sound as boring as possible."

Bulkhead and Ironhide gave a brief smirk before continuing. It was, without a doubt, going to be a long search.

Unbeknownst to them, a mysterious creature watched them from the shadows above.

After many more hours of searching, the Autobots were beginning to question the merit of Ratchet's calculations.

"Uh! We haven't found anything!" Smokescreen threw his arms up in the air in exasperation, taking a seat on a pile of debris.

"We mustn't lose faith Smokescreen. I'm sure they're around here somewhere." Bumblebee Reinforced.

"I hate to admit it, but I agree with the kid." Ironhide said. "We could be looking for megacycles and still never find them."

"Bee's right." Bulkhead replied. "If there's one of our own out here then we shouldn't give up on them."

"I'm not saying we should give up Bulk, just come back tomorrow, and get Ratchet to confirm his readings." Ironhide clarified.

Smokescreen spoke up. "It'll be dark soon anyway and my gears are aching. Unless we find them soon I say we go with Ironhide's plan."

Bumblebee was about to ask for Bulkhead's opinion on this but a loud primal screech distracted them.

"Uh. Was that them?" Smokescreen asked timidly.

Bumblebee activated his weapons. "Get ready. We could be in for a fight."

The abandoned streets fell silent again, leaving the Autobots waiting for the source of the noise to show itself.

Suddenly Smokescreen felt something grab him by the shoulders and lift him high into the air. He flailed and shouted, earning the attention of his teammates.

"Smoke!" Bulkhead yelled, opening fire on his friend's captor.

"Be careful Bulk, you might hit Smokescreen!" Bumblebee called out, causing the Wrecker to promptly halt his attack.

"Scrap." Ironhide cursed as Smokescreen was dragged higher and higher. "Now what do we do?"

Bumblebee focused his optics on the creature that held Smokescreen, a sudden realisation dawning on him. "I think we've just found our Dinobot." He smirked at the others.

"Wait. Really?" Bulkhead asked.

Bumblebee didn't leave his friends much time to process the information before he dashed towards the nearest skyscraper. "You two keep him busy, I've got a plan!" He yelled back.

Ironhide and Bulkhead simply shrugged before opening fire once again, though aiming to miss their target.

Bumblebee dashed up the seemingly endless flights of rusted metal stairs, hoping to get high enough in order to execute his plan. It was risky, but their only option seeing as how none of them could fly. Bumblebee silently cursed the fact that no fliers had yet returned to Cybertron.

He didn't have much time to dwell on his thoughts however, as he soon found himself at a dead end, finding that the remainder of the stairwell had collapsed.

"This should be far enough then." Bumblebee decided, stopping on the highest floor he could reach. The Autobot entered an empty room with a large (and rather convenient) hole where the outside wall once was, exposing the interior to the high altitude winds.

He looked down to see that he was at least several hundred feet high, enough to execute his plan. All Bumblebee had to do now was wait for the right moment.

The Dinobot was circling Bulkhead and Ironhide below, Smokescreen still in its clutches. It was mostly silver coloured with a pair of vast mechanical wings somehow keeping the creature aloft, akin to a robotic Pteranodon. Bumblebee could see them fly closer to him now, and prepared to hatch his plan. If he were human Bumblebee would've taken a deep breath before leaping off the side of the high-rise building.

He could feel the cold air rush against his metallic skin as he raced towards the ground, optics set dead on his aerial target. Bumblebee straightened his body like a skydiver, increasing the speed of his descent. He was now directly above the Dinobot, and with luck and a quick reaction speed on his side, managed to grab onto one of its chrome wings.

The creature shrieked, immediately attempting to throw off its unwelcome passenger. Bumblebee struggled to stay on its back as he was left dangling by one servo.

"Hey Smokey." He grimanced at his friend below, who was still in the talons of the mechanical animal.

"Get this thing off of me!" He screamed back.

"On it!" As he tried to climb onto the creature's back Bumblebee caught a glimpse of a faded Autobot insignia on its hide. This confirmed his initial suspicions. This had to be the Dinobot they were looking for. Using all of his strength, Bumblebee managed to pull himself up onto the Dinobot's back, causing it to lose balance and flail wildly. Maintaining his own balance Bumblebee withdrew the antidote vial from his chassis and quickly injected its contents into the Dinobot's neck.

The creature shrieked again, completely losing control and sending the three of them crashing into an abandoned building. The trio were sent flying through various pieces of rusted furniture and weakened wall supports before eventually coming to a rest among a pile of dust and debris.

Smokescreen groaned as he sat up, rubbing his aching head. He opened his optics to see Bumblebee standing above him, arm outstretched towards his fallen comrade. Smokescreen chuckled slightly. "See what I mean?" He told the yellow and black Autobot, taking the servo he was offered. "You're Prime material buddy."

Before Bumblebee could think of a suitable response, the building began to shift violently. "Looks like our little skirmish caused a bit too much collateral damage." He commented.

"Let's get out of here!" Smokescreen yelled over the sound of the collapsing building, both Autobots looking for an exit.

Suddenly they felt the floor beneath them give way and they were sent falling downwards hundreds of feet. They were sure they were doomed until they both felt themselves being pulled upwards. Daring to open their optics, the two Autobots found that the creature whom they were fighting earlier had in fact saved them.

The Dinobot briefly looked at them with his bright blue optics as he dragged them away from the collapsing skyscraper, screeching triumphantly.

Bumblebee and Smokescreen soon found themselves safely back on the ground with Ironhide and Bulkhead.

Smokescreen grinned at Bulkhead, pointing over his shoulder at the newly formed pile of rubble. "There's one less old building you'll have to demolish."

Bulkhead observed the aftermath of the carnage that had happened around him in the past few minutes. 'Miko would've loved this.' He thought with a slight smile.

The recognisable sound of a transformation cog brought everyone's attention back to their newest addition. The prehistoric creature had now been replaced with a bot similar in size to Smokescreen. The Dinobot bore a beak-shaped design on his chest, with the Autobot insignia emblazoned on it. A broad pair of wings sprouted from his back, forming a unique silhouette. A bright blue visor stared back at the Autobots, eyeing each of them up.

Bumblebee outstretched his hand towards the Dinobot. "Ah hello, er..."

"Swoop." He replied, his voice was relatively high-pitched and full of this strange excitable energy. "Do you guys mind telling me what's going on?"

The Autobots raised their optic ridges. It looked like they had some more explaining to do.

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**Hoping to be able to do weekly uploads now but we'll just have to see how that goes I guess...****Stay safe. ;)**


	17. Chapter 17: Life, Old and New

**Sorry for the long absence. It seems that the more time I have the less I write. Weird. I'm doing my best to establish a writing schedule for myself but its hard to get back into something like this. Also this chapter ended up being way longer than I originally anticipated but oh well. More to read I guess.** **I've also changed the cover art. It took me about an hour to Photoshop yesterday but discord seemed to think it turned out pretty well so I hope that you guys like it too.**

**In response to a couple of reviews/comments I've been getting**, **yes this book will be mostly ship-free but I'm planning on doing a series which I do have a few ideas for in terms of ships. So while this book may not include much of that stuff, some of the later ones probably will. Being more specific, Arcee and Hot Rod I've never intended on happening in this story, and her relationship with Springer is more in the past than the present (as in they used to be kinda a thing but aren't anymore, as a reference to G1 kinda). As for Arcee and Jazz I intended them to just be really close friends but I now realise that I've been unwittingly giving a bit of romantic subtext to their relationship. XD But I haven't finalized my plans for relationships yet so I'll probably end up doing what I feel serves the story best.**

**As for the guy asking about my preferred VA for Swoop. I just imagined the guy who voiced him in FOC doing him in this fic (seeing as they are pretty much the same here). So Mark Allan Stewart.**

**Please leave more reviews on this chapter and I hope you enjoy! ;)**

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"This is not something that I would often stoop to, but I am impressed Grimlock."

Shockwave's single red optic stared at the Dinobot from across the large circular chamber.

Grimlock did not respond, remaining still in his bonds, head hung against his chest.

Shockwave continued his monologue. "Of course most of your feats are a result of my modifications. You could have become a powerful ally to the Decepticon cause, but instead you chose to play to brute. How illogical. I should have kept you on a tighter leash, my pet."

Shockwave's audio receptors picked up a low growl coming from Grimlock, the Dinobot's ruby visit visible as he lifted his head upwards. Shockwave was expecting an outburst from the brute, a moment of futile rage before the scientist would be forced to put him to sleep again.

Instead the growl turned into a strange form of weak laugh. Shockwave was shocked. What did this lugnut find so amusing?

Grimlock spoke up in his gravely voice. "G-get fragged Shockwave. You're an idiot."

This was something Shockwave was not expecting. This steely and measured response was highly irregular, especially when compared to his previous records of violent outbursts.

Grimlock continued. "W-when I get out of here, this time I'll make sure too kill you properly."

Shockwave felt this strange sensation rising in his neural net. It was anger. Emotion was not something that Shockwave often gave in to, but this time he would make an exception for the arrogant Dinobot.

Shockwave brought his arm up and pressed a button on his built-in control panel. Arcs of energy flickered and flared around Grimlock, coursing across his body, causing the Dinobot to writhe in agony.

After a few painful moments for the prisoner, the torture stopped. Shockwave lowered his arm and stared back at his now exhausted captive.

"I-I-Is that all you got?" Grimlock taunted again, trying to push Shockwave further.

This time the scientist did not give in. "There will not be a next time for you Grimlock. Soon I shall use you to destroy everything the Autobots are." He turned to walk out. "I hope this brought back...memories."

The steel door slid shut, leaving Grimlock alone in the silence, with only his vengeful thoughts for company.

"The well of Allsparks."

Bumblebee and his team consisting of Arcee, Jazz and the newly recovered Swoop looked over the endless metal plains at the vast well, the one that lead to the Allspark in Cybertron's core, where all life on their planetbegins and ultimately returns. For some of them the well surfaced painfully fresh memories of Optimus Prime's sacrifice. Arcee and Bumblebee could still see the great Prime gracefully glide into the core, his life exchanged for the creation of limitless new ones.

Their attention was shiftedas several deafening roars echoed across the plains. Below, at the very edge of the well, two packs ofCybertronian beasts faced off. On one side were the Predacons: Predaking, Skylynx and Darksteel. The other group consisted of a metallic Diplodocus, Triceratops, and Stegosaurs.

"That's them!" Swoop jumped forward enthusiastically, pointing to the Cybertronian dinosaurs. "But, who are they fighting?" He asked, scratching his head.

Bumblebee set his jaw, eyeing the other group of primordial beasts. "Predacons." The last time Bumblebee had seen the three clones they had come to aid the Autobots' struggle in stopping Unicron from destroying Primus in Megatron's body. They bravely fought Unicron's undead legion of Predacons before being overwhelmed. Until now their fate had been a mystery and were presumed dead, having not been sighted in several months now.

"What's the plan Bee?" Bumblebee heard Arcee ask.

Jazz saw his opportunity to make a bad joke. "Whoa slow down Arcee. We haven't even tried plan A yet."

Arcee just rolled her eyes and huffed. "You're an idiot."

Bumblebee shook his head at his teammate's antics but remained focused on forming a plan. The Predacons' allegiances were currently a grey area, and while Bumblebee knew that they now despised the majority of the Decepticons, he remembered Predaking begrudgingly conversing with him once. Perhaps he could try and appeal to him again. Bumblebee sighed. For the millionth time he found himself thinking: What would Optimus do?

"Uh. Bee?" Jazz asked the bot, distracting him from his long train of thought.

Bumblebee straightened and turned to face his team. He had something of plan. A risky plan nonetheless, but it was still better than nothing. "Ok. I think I have something." The other bots fixated on him, waiting to hear his grand scheme. "You three, take these vials." He withdrew three needle-like vials of liquid from his chassis; Ratchet's cure for the Dinobots' animalistic behaviour, and held them out to them other Autobots. They each took one in their hand. "You need to get close enough to the other Dinobots to inject this." He pointed to the vials. "Try somewhere soft. I suggest the neck." They all gave him raised eyebrows, silently asking him questions. Bumblebee did his best to answer them. "I'll go and try and distract them, which will hopefully buy you enough time to get close."

"That sounds a little too risky to me. You sure you can distract them long enough?" Arcee asked.

Bumblebee shrugged. "We've been through worse."

Arcee smirked. He was not wrong. If Bee could kill Megatron then this should be a walk through the Six Lasers' amusement park.

The four of them stood in awkward silence for a moment before Jazz vocalised everyone's thoughts. "So, are you gonna say it or should I say it?"

Bumblebee silently cleared his vocal processor before uttering the famous phrase. "Autobots, transform and roll out!" He said it with as much gusto as he could muster but the words still felt stolen to him, alien. He shook off the strange feeling and followed the others to the cusp of the Well.

Bumblebee hid himself behind a large chunk of debris left by the Nemesis when it had crash landed by the Well. The Decepticon warship had remained untouched since Unicron's defeat, mostly due to the fact that the Autobots did not yet have the necessary equipment to move it. But Bumblebee, among other bots thought that it should stay as it is; a sort of memorial to the war, and to symbolise that it was finally over. At least that is what they hoped.

He was only about a hundred metres away from the beasts now. Close enough that their thunderous footsteps and ear-splitting roars were borderline deafening. A few hundred more metres to his left, he could see the other three get into position behind the Dinobots, also using the Nemesis' debris as cover. Jazz gave him a friendly smile and encouraging thumbs up, they were now waiting for his move.

"Ok Bee." He said to himself. "Let's do this."

Without thinking twice Bumblebee jumped out from behind his cover and ran straight into the fray.

He immediately regretted the idea as soon as Predaking's beastly yellow optics set themselves on him. 'Oh scrap.' He thought. "Hey!" He called out to them loudly, this time catching the attention of all of the giants. Bumblebee stepped back instinctually. "Uh. Why are you attacking these Autobots, I thought we had a truce." He yelled over, internally wincing at his words, which were loaded with half-truths.

Predaking eyed him again, growling lowly, but he sounded more confused than anything else. The Predacon transformed, altering his body until a large bipedal form towered over the Autobot. "These are Autobots?" He asked incredulously. "If there truly was a truce in place then they would've not attacked us first, and endangered the lives of countless unborn Cybertronians." He swiftly gestured to the very edge of the well.

Now that he was closer, Bumblebee could see it. Around the circumference of the well, half submerged in the ground lay tiny little metallic creatures, curled up like a foetus. Protoforms. Their shiny grey skin was so thin that their sparks could be seen underneath, glowing and dimming as they beat in different hues.

"Oh." Bumblebee was not expecting this. He knew life would return to Cybertron at some point but this seemed too soon. They were not ready to bring up a new generation. They could barely manage their own. Bumblebee felt his mouth curl upwards into a smile. Optimus did it.

He was about to say something back to Predaking when the Dinobots began to get impatient. They all roared at him, focusing on their interruption. Oh scrap. Did he not buy enough time?

Bumblebee was sure he was done for when he heard the Dinobots roar again, but this time at something else. They were reeling back, attempting to shake something off each of their backs. Looking closer, Bumblebee could see a figure mounted on each of them, struggling to inject something into the neck of each. A few more moments of struggling and the Dinobots all fell to the ground, almost simultaneously. Bumblebee saw Jazz leap off the Triceratops, Swoop dismount the Stegosaurs, and finally Arcee slid down the long neck of the Diplodocus.

"Wouldn't it have been easier to let Swoop deal with the big one seeing as, y'know, he can fly up there?" Bee asked Arcee as she walked over to him.

Arcee shrugged. "I like a challenge. Hope we didn't keep you waiting."

"If I didn't know any better, I would say you enjoy cutting things ridiculously close."

"Hmm. So what do we do with these three?" She gestured to the fallen Dinobots.

"Wait for them to wake up I guess. You recognise any of them Swoop?"

The Dinobot studied his sleeping allies for a moment before answering. "This is Slug." He said, pointing to the Triceratops. "That's Snarl." His finger moved to the Stegosaurus. "And this is Sludge." His digits rested on the Diplodocus.

Jazz looked confused. "Wait I thought Sludge was offline. I found him in deep stasis-lock beneath the sea of rust."

"Yes, he was offline for a time. But we managed to find him and bring him back from the brink after the exodus. That was not long before, well, we lost control."

"I see that you are like us, but you are not Predacons." The growl of Predaking's voice came from behind Swoop. The giant approached the conscious Dinobot, curious to know more.

"We're not." Swoop clarified with a slight hint of passive aggression towards the Predacon. "We're Dinobots and unlike you we weren't born like this. What you see before you is the result of Shockwave and his twisted experimentation." Swoop's fists clenched at his sides.

Predaking was now deep in thought. He never really hated Shockwave like he did some of the other Decepticons. Maybe that was due to the fact Shockwave gave him life in the first place, but this didn't make him blind to what horrors the scientist was capable of. "Hmm." Was Predaking's simple response. "Your allies seem to be struggling to control their beast forms. We...can assist you with that problem as we have also had to overcome that particular boundary." It felt strange offering another help for nothing in return, but his spark knew that it was what he should do. These 'Dinobots' may not be Predacons but like them, they were outcasts because of their nature and Predaking always felt he had a duty to his people.

Skylynx cut in from behind. "Yess. They are very powerful as well."

"They would make excellent spar if we ever needed to let off steam." Darksteel added.

"Consider my offer Dinobot." Predaking told Swoop, who nodded back gratefully. "We'll be here should you choose to return."

"Wait. What do you mean?" Bumblebee asked the titan.

"We're staying here, to guard the next generation of Cybertronians and welcome them into the world." Predaking was secretly hoping that more Predacons will be born from this new generation. Perhaps the noble Prime somehow influenced Primus' will when he entered the Allspark, but for now these were only hopes for the lonely Predacons. "Especially seeing as others have not come to do so."

Bumblebee thought the last jab was a little unfair but also true. The Autobots had been far too preoccupied with other tasks to even check if the well had begun to produce new sparks yet. Even if they had known they certainly didn't have the resources to monitor and nurturethe protoforms as well as they had been able to before the war. Bumblebee just shrugged it off and smiled at Predaking. "Thank you Predaking. I'll try and get some bots up here to help you out but our resources are stretched quite thin at the moment." Predaking scowled slightly. He needed no help, but these sparks were just as Autobot as they were Predacon so he decided to let it slide. "I trust you'll do your job well and I hope that this can be the beginning of a strong new relationship between Autobots and Predacons." As a final sign of good faith, Bumblebee outstretched his hand to Predaking. The clone hesitated for a moment, but after swallowing his pride he took the Autobot's hand and shook it, allowing a smallsmile to creep acrosshis faceplate. He wouldn't outrightly admit it, but he hoped so too.

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**For those of you wondering why Bumblebee is so surprised that new life is coming already, I changed the ending of Predacons Rising slightly. Everything is the same apart from the last bit with all the sparks shooting out the well. Optimus just disappeared and that was it here. To be honest, that final scene was mostly so the show could go out on a pretty and happy note which isn't really necessary here. So that answers that particular riddle for you.**

**Next time we'll be going back to the Decepticons so I hope you Combaticon fans are ready! I'll try not to take any longer than two weeks, and as always please review it usually helps me write faster if I know that people are enjoying this stuff. ;)**


	18. Chapter 19: Swindle

**Hey guys. Hope that you're all still holding up well. Sorry this chapter took so long to get out there but the world has been...well crazy is an understatement. I also had some things to sort out myself but nothing that should've hindered my writing too much (especially not for nearly two months), I just had a bit of writers block I guess.**

**Special thanks goes to mighnightthemuteation whose recent reviews helped me a lot in getting this chapter finished.**

**I don't really have that much else to say to be honest apart from work hard and be nice, hopefully this story can distract you from the real world and allow you to recharge, if only for a moment.**

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"Fort Scyk."

Onslaught along with Vortex and Blast Off stood on a ridge overlooking the dark fortress. This was the site of the first major Decepticon victory. Before the war it acted as a training ground for the High Council militia. It also housed one of the main nodes in Cybertron's old planetary Communications Grid. The node was knocked offline shortly before the war however, as Megatron's supporters detonated an electromagnetic pulse bomb close to the fort. When the war actually started, Fort Scyk was the site of its first true battle.

The three Combaticons remembered the skirmish vividly. In the midst of it was Megatron, fearless among the chaos as he led the Seekers into battle. Despite all of their efforts, the Autobot militia stood no chance, and were soon driven away from the fort, leaving it in the hands of the Decepticon army.

"Brings back memories, doesn't it?" Vortex commented.

Onslaught grunted and Blast Off folded his arms. "Yeah, back when the Decepticons were a force to be reckoned with, and not some little group hiding in old buildings."

"Come on Blast Off, once we bring back Swindle and Brawl taking this planet should no challenge."

"Hmph. Sure. Things'll be real fun with Shockwave running Cybertron."

"Hah! You honestly think he won't be overthrown by then?! Shockwave may be smart, but he's no Megatron. No one is actually loyal to him."

"Can it, both of you." Onslaught interrupted. "What happens when we take over Cybertron is a problem for another day. Right now we need to figure out how to get our team back together, starting by searching this fort." Onslaught never really said it aloud, but his close companions knew he disliked Shockwave as much as they did. Despite giving them the ability to combine, the Combaticons still hated how condescending the scientist was to their combined form, given its brutish exterior nature, and by extension them.

"Right." Vortex acknowledged, turning to Blast Off. "Ten Shanix says its Brawl."

"You're on!"

The two of them transformed and flew down to the fort's entrance. Onslaught watched them go, happy to see his team beginning to return to normal. Then he jumped off the ridge and followed.

...

The fort's mangled entrance was at least one hundred feet tall, large enough to fit a combiner through it. The doors themselves were in shreds, looking as if something had torn them open from the outside. No doubt the work of Devastator, Onslaught thought. He remembered clearly, the six Constructicons rushing past his troops, merging into one giant force of destruction. When Shockwave offered his team a chance to wield the same power the Combaticons were both understandably cautious and ecstatic. The experiment was a success, and their combined form of Bruticus had a power that was near unmatched. Unfortunately their astounding strength came at the cost of their cognitive function. Onslaught's tactical mind was of no use, as the combiner wanted only to destroy.

Vortex and Blast Off landed beside their leader. "Looks like we won't have to knock." Vortex commented.

His counterpart grunted. "Shame. I was looking forward to destroying something today."

Onslaught walked up to the busted doors and peered inside. A corridorwith a ceiling as high as the entrance stretched on into darkness. The only source of light from within was coming from various holes made by a battle long since fought, making the light seem patchy and scattered along its length.

"You see anything boss?" Vortex asked.

Onslaught straightened, morphing his arm into a blaster cannon. "Not yet. But keep an eye out for traps. Some areas may still be active." Vortex and Blast Off looked at each other, shrugging before doing the same as their commander and following him into the dimly lit tunnel.

...

They had only been moving down the corridor for a few minutes but it felt like hours to the Combaticons. The three of them would walk for a while and then Onslaught would hear a noise, stopping them in their tracks in case they'd triggered a trap. This tedious progress was especially taking its toll on Blast Off, who was becoming twitchy at the stillness. The indoors made him feel...restricted. He was always bewildered by cons like Shockwave who spent almost all of their time indoors, or worse yet - underground.

Blast Off shuddered at the idea of being trapped under the fort if it collapsed, unable to fly free. That would be his eternal torment if the Pit existed, forever having the unbearable sensation of claustrophobia and being unable to do anything about it.

His thoughts were interrupted by a yelp from Vortex, who had tripped over something. As the Combaticon stumbled, small holes materialised in the walls. "Hit the deck!" Onslaught yelled, tackling Vortex, causing the startled Decepticon to fire his weapon wildly, sending a volley of neutron rounds into the ceiling. Blast Off followed his commander's lead at the last second, feeling hundreds of small metal arrows rush over his head.

After they heard the last of the sharp objects embed itself into the opposite wall with a metallic thud, the Combaticons began to stir. "What in Unicron's name was that?!" Blast Off asked incredulously.

Onslaught got up, walked over to one side of the corridor and plucked an arrow from the wall. It was only slightly longer than the width of his palm. "A trap. More primitive than I expected, but effective, I'll give it that." He turned the arrow in his hand. Upon closer inspection the head was actually in the shape of the Decepticon insignia. Onslaught found this slightly amusing. They had fallen into their own trap, placed centuries ago.

"It looks like Vortex wasn't looking where he was going." Blast Off pointed to his ally's servo, which now had a thin metal trip wire wrapped around it.

"Ah. Oops." Vortex rubbed the back of his neck, a little sheepishly.

Blast Off just let out a mechanical huff. "Let's go get this over with. This place is starting to grind my gears."

"You said it." Vortex yanked the wire off from around his ankle and followed his comrade deeper into the fortress, this time stepping more carefully.

Onslaught looked to the arrow in his hand, snapping it in two with the clenching of his fist and moved to accompany his two team members. Just as he was about to step forward the entire fortress shook. A low rumbling sound filled the corridor as parts of the ceiling began to collapse.

After a solid minute of waiting anxiously the shaking subsided. "That's why you don't fire a weapon in a confined space, Vortex." Onslaught's bright yellow visor glared at him. "Let's get moving. This whole place could collapse for all we know." No further argument was made as the trio headed further into the darkness of Fort Scyk.

...

When they got deeper inside the fortress most of the rooms the group came across were either empty or full of rust and acid pools, most likely having burned its way through the unmaintained building from the nearby acid wastes. After having checked about a dozen rooms Blast Off began to get impatient. "This is hopeless! We'll never find him in here."

Onslaught raised a hand for silence, to which Blast Off quickly complied. The Combaticon leader stood still in the middle of the labyrinth of hallways, optics closed. Concentrating, searching for the faint sign of a life signature. When the Combaticons combined they did more than just fuse bodies, their minds were connected as well, if loosely. Despite their missing comrade more than likely being in stasis lock, Onslaught could still sense their location through the bond they all shared, provided that they were within his vicinity that is.

He could feel Vortex and Blast Off's signatures right next to him, burning bright due them being online. He ignored the two healthy life signals of his companions and searched deeper for something more subtle.

There. He could feel another familiar presence here, faint but still noticeable. Onslaught followed the dim life signature religiously, like a turbofox to a scent. He walked past another dozen or so empty rooms, his companions trailing behind in silence before coming to the one that peaked his interest.

The door was old and rusted shut, though thankfully it looked as if it had been weakened due to the years of weathering it had been subjected to. "Here." Onslaught told the other two Combaticons, who looked relieved that they were finally getting somewhere.

Onslaught took a step back from the door, before charging one of his large shoulders into the rusty opening. The metal buckled and crumpled under the force, the aged material unable to withstand the onslaught from the Combaticon leader. It was soon ripped from its hinges, falling into the room and sliding across the floor with an unpleasant scraping sound.

"Nice." Vortex admired his commander's handiwork before following him inside along with Blast Off.

The room was a little larger than the ones they'd come across previously, no bigger than Shockwave's lab back at Darkmount. Like the rest of the fortress, rusted and discarded equipment lay on the floor, mixing grey hues with orange. What probably stood out most about the room however, was the fact that the majority of the floorspace was covered in a green liquid, save a small strip by the doorway that was just big enough for the three Combaticons to stand on. However, lying on its back on an island of debris right in the middle of the room, hand hanging dangerously close to the pool of acid was the body of a Decepticon.

Blast Off noticed the body among the rubble first. "Is that Swindle?"

"It must be, looks too small to be Brawl." Onslaught confirmed. "Though the body appears to have slid very close to the acid quite recently." He glared at Vortex, chastising him for causing the earlier quakes. "Blast Off, fly over there and get him before he falls in. I hope I can rely on you not to drop him."

"Sure thing Onslaught!" Blast Off activated the jets on his feet and hovered over to the dangling body. With a closer look he could definitely identify it as Swindle now. The Decepticon's armour was beige with hints of purple and a set of large Cybertronian tyres on his shoulders and legs. Blast Off looked into his unconscious companion's dim purple visor and laughed. "You owe me ten Shanix Vortex!"

Vortex laughed back, arms folded. "Jokes on you. I don't have any money."

"Fine. But you're buying me some engex when we take over Cybertron you spawn of a glitch." Blast Off heard Vortex grunt as he scooped up Swindle's body. He was lighter than he expected, though that was probably due to the fact that the Combaticon had less energon inside him due to stasis - his body slowly using up his supply to keep only minimal life functions online.

Blast Off had nearly made it to the other Combaticons when he suddenly felt a strong current jolt through his spine. Momentarily short circuited by this unexpected power surge, Blast Off dropped his teammate and began to fall.

Fortunately he was close enough for Onslaught to catch Swindle before he fell into the acid. Blast Off did not have such a smooth landing. He crashed into the ground at Vortex's feet, much to the other's amusement.

"Uh... What was that?" The downed Decepticon groaned.

Onslaught laid Swindle on the ground before looking up at where his ally had fallen from. "There." He pointed to an exposed cable in the ceiling. "Looks like there's still some power left in this fortress."

"Which means that it may still be operational." Vortex added.

"Yeah." Blast Off said, sitting up and rubbing his cranium. "As if that wasn't obvious from the trap we fell into earlier."

The other two decided to ignore his observation. "Let's get Swindle to his servos first, then we'll see where that cable leads." Onslaught told them. He retrieved a vial of energon from his chassis and injected it into Swindle. The con spasmed slightly as his systems came back online and colour returned to his body once more. His visor lit up purple and he slowly sat up, disoriented.

"O-Onslaught?" He looked up at the bot above him, still groggy from his centuries-long slumber. "What's happening?"

"You've been in stasis lock for some time. Can you walk?"

"Yeah, yeah I think so." The Combaticon got to his feet, noticing the other two Decepticons behind his leader. "Uh. Hey. Where's-"

"I'll explain on the way." Onslaught told him, not wanting to spend anymore time sitting and talking around the acid pools. "Follow us."

...

The group had been following the active cable for several minutes now, which was more than enough time for Onslaught to get Swindle up to speed.

"So, all we need now is Brawl? Never thought I'd see the day where we'd be actively seeking out that lugnut."

"Yeah. I don't quite believe it myself." Blast Off interjected.

They all stopped when the cabling led into a wall. Onslaught approached a set of double doors in the wall and with astounding strength, forced them open. He managed to stop himself from taking a step forward, realizing just in time that he'd opened up a lift shaft. Looking up he could see the cable snake up into the dim shaft, though looking down at the crushed box at the bottom he could clearly see that the lift was out of commission and had been for a while.

Swindle appeared beside him, looking into the shaft. "Whoa. That's a long way down, and up."

The other Combaticons also wanted to have a look. "So what's the plan Onslaught? You want me and Blast Off to go up there?" Vortex asked his leader.

"No." He replied. "You're going to give us a lift."

...

Having finally reached the top, Onslaught and Swindle hopped off their companions backs as soon as they could, having used their ability to fly to ensure they all made it up. "Uh, Swindle! I'm never giving you a lift again. Your elbow articulator was digging into my lateral flexor the entire time!"

Swindle was about to argue his case when Onslaught cut him off. "Quiet. We're here." The room ahead of them was full of old computer instrumentation, most of which was surprisingly undamaged. In the centre of the room was a large holographic table, glowing a faint blue hue. The cable they had been following was powering it. "This is the main communications centre." Onslaught approached the central table, wiping a thick layer of dust off of it.

"But I thought that the communications node was knocked offline ages ago." Vortex mused.

"The main node is offline, yes. But it looks like the comms equipment is still in one piece, and still has a small amount of power left for that matter. If we can bring the node back online then our communications reach will far exceed that of the Autobots'. We'll be able to call back more Decepticons at a much faster rate, meaning this stalemate will soon be over."

His thoughts were interrupted by the voice of Shockwave cutting through his audio receptors. "Onslaught. What is your status?"

The Combaticon leader grumbled, a little irritated at the scientist's sudden outburst. He lifted a finger to the side of his cranium to respond. "Green Shockwave. We've recovered Swindle." He hesitated for a moment, wondering if it would be better to not tell Shockwave about their other discovery. Primus knows who he would summon back to Cybertron. Shockwave didn't seem to have any limits when it came to judging the sanity of his troops. Onslaught looked over to his near-complete team, knowing that it wasn't fair on them to have to scavenge around in the streets of Kaon for who knows how many years until they were powerful enough to overtake Cybertron from the Autobots, who were also growing in number by the day. He made his decision, hoping that Shockwave's Cybertron wasn't worse than their current predicament. "That's not all, there's something that I think you need to see."

There was a long pause. Too long for Onslaught's liking before Shockwave finally responded. "Very well. I will open a groundbridge to your coordinates."

...

Shockwave arrived on the scene barely a minute after he had spoken to Onslaught. The Decepticon scientist certainly didn't like to waste any time. "What is it?" He asked Onslaught in his monotonous voice. Straight to the point as always, Onslaught thought. He didn't verbally respond to the question, instead he just gestured to the instrumentation behind him. Shockwave approached the equipment, examining it. "Fort Scyk's communication grid is still online."

"If we can repair the node then we shall have unrivaled access to Cybertron's most powerful planetary communications grid." Onslaught added.

"I see." Shockwave was still looking at the technology with a strange form of apathetic interest. "I will repair the node, and leave a small portion of our forces here to guard it. In the meantime..." He turned to face the group of Combaticons. "...I have located your final member. I suggest you depart immediately to maximize our effectiveness." The group simply nodded in response. There were no congratulations or warm welcome backs when it came to Shockwave.

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**I'll try and get another chapter out ASAP, just keep those reviews coming! They really help me out when I get stuck as well as letting me know what people think of my story so far. ;)**


	19. Chapter 19: Mood Swing

**Hey guys, sorry for another long wait. Though this is a long chapter so I guess it evens out. Thanks for giving the time to read and review. It always helps a lot. I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**PS. Had to republish this chapter because FFN got rid of my scene changes!**

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The powerful metal fist cut through the hologram like it was air, dispersing the blue image into tiny particles that dissolved and then disappeared. The Autobot Springer turned to see more of the holographic shadows rush towards him. Each one was identical, having the exact same shape and proportions as a vehicon foot-soldier. The half a dozen enemies charging him didn't faze Springer one bit however, and he prepared to strike. In one fluid motion Springer drew his sword from his back and swung around, decapitating the entire horde of make-believeDecepticons, causing their bodies to dissipate into specks of blue light.

Springer grunted and dropped to his knees in exhaustion. He had been training for hours without so much a milli-cycle's rest. The Autobot warrior strained to stand, trying to move to the other side of the training room and restart the simulation. He couldn't give up now. Not when so much weighed on his success. Tightening hisgrip on his blade, Springer stumbled forward with only one thought on his mind: to extinguish Blitzwing's spark.

...

Ultra Magnus paced the front of the briefing room, slightly troubled by the news that Bumblebee had just unloaded onto him. "So, the Predacons have volunteered to stand guard over the next generation of Cybertronian life?" Bumblebee simply nodded in response. The commander stopped for a moment, in thought. "What makes you think we can trust them?" Unlike the young warrior Magnus did not believe trust was something that was earned through a few good deeds, he had seen enough Autobot turncoats to prove it.

"Please, commander." Bumblebee responded, something he would not have been able to do a few mere months ago. "We've seen it ourselves, the Predacons want nothing to do with the Decepticons. They came to our aid to fight Unicron did they not?"

"Not to mention that without Predaking's rampage Ratchet would never have been able to let us board the Nemesis." Bulkhead added, backing up his friend's argument even though it meant going against authority a little.

Though it was out of his character, Magnus couldn't help but scoff. "Both times they were in pursuit of their own interests. I can think of more than two reasons not to trust them however." He clenched his clawed hand, which for some reason was shaking slightly. Was it out of anger? Or fear of the Predacons? Both were unlike the Autobot commander. Though it made sense for him to be so cautious of Shockwave's clones. Predaking had crushed his right hand beyond repair, and nearly killed him and Wheeljack back on Earth. Then, not long after returning to Cybertron two more appeared in the sea of rust, and had him confined to a medical berth for several weeks, leaving him fighting for his life for the second time as a result of an encounter with those beasts.

Bumblebee instead tried to appeal to the commander's tactical side. "But we still don't yet have enough Autobots to guard both the Well and Iacon, at the moment we can't afford not to trust them. Their loyalty is to Cybertron. Isn't ours as well?" For someone who was confined to silence for so many years, Bumblebee was surprisingly good with his words.

Ultra Magnus frowned, more than usual. He knew Bumblebee was right. For now he would have to take some risks. Besides, it seemed like something Optimus would do. "Very well Bumblebee, you have made your point. We shall leave them be for now. But when we have enough troops to divide our resources appropriately, I will have the Well closely monitored."

Bumblebee relaxed. That sounded reasonable to him. Autobots and Predacons working together to nurture the next generation seemed like fair play. He had a hunch that the Predacons wouldn't mind too much either, as long the Autobots don't try and encroach on their territory too much they should remain neutral.

Magnus turned back to face his audience. "Now, is there anything else we need to discuss?"

"There is." A voice said from the far end of the conference table. Everyone's optics turned to Swoop, who was waving his hand in the air you ensure he was being payed attention to.

"Yes Swoop what is it?" Magnus nearly didn't bother asking the question. He already knew what was on Swoop's mind.

"Where's Grimlock?"

Of course. Not too long ago the other Dinobots had returned back into the Autobot's fold. Now they were eager to recover their leader. The commander looked to Ratchet for an explanation.

The medic stood. "Unfortunately I've lost Grimlock's signal. There are many possible reasons to why this may have happened, but without being at the other end we're in the dark I'm afraid."

"Its the cons." Swoop stated with conviction. "Shockwave must've found Grimlock and now he wants to make him his slave again."

"Calm down soldier." Magnus told the Dinobot. "We can't go jumping to conclusions. Especially not in times such as these. We will send another small group down there to see if Grimlock has moved somewhere where we cannot detect him. But you are not, under any circumstances to engage the Decepticons. Understand?"

Swoop paused, he knew that the Decepticons had to be behind this. Grimlock didn't exactly leave Shockwave on good terms last time they met, he dreaded to think what the cold scientist might do if their paths crossed again. "Ok then. I'll gather the others and we can go and see for ourselves." He told the commander, fighting his initial instinctual reaction. With that he dismissed himself from the meeting.

Ultra Magnus looked to a green Autobot sitting towards the back of the room. "Kup, I want you to go with them. Make sure they don't try anything rash."

The senior bot nodded. "Will do commander Magnus. I'll keep those rookies in line."

Magnus looked to the rest of the meeting room. "Now, does anybody else have anything to report?"

Bulkhead cleared his non-existent throat. "The construction team have nearly completed the new landing platform for returning refugees, uh, sir."

"Good. Hopefully it can be put to use soon." The commander looked across the room again. Not seeing any of the other Autobots bring up anything if value he proceeded to dismiss them. "As you all know, these are difficult times. The Decepticons are still very much at large but as we've seen, we currently do not possess the force necessary to defeat them. Ironhide, now that you've recovered I want you to act as head of security. I want to know about any suspicious activity in and around Iacon. At least if we see an attack coming, we can prepare for it."

Ironhide, who was sitting with his arms folded, nodded in acknowledgement. "I can keep a watch over Iacon for you but it might become difficult to maintain security if we expand to other territories."

"For now we will stay in Iacon. Only when a more suitable number of Autobots have returned will we consider laying claim to other city states." He paused for a moment, seeing if anyone else had anything to add. "Very well, that seems to be all for now. You are dismissed." Despite Cybertron being in relative peace Ultra Magnus could not help but stay to his militaristic roots.

...

As the Autobots began to file out of the meeting room, Bumblebee shuffled through the small crowd to gain the attention of one of his friends. "Arcee!" He called out, jogging alongside the blue Autobot.

"Yeah Bee what is it?" She asked in response.

"Have you seen Springer since..."

"Since Magnus chewed him out? No. I hear he's spent most of his time in the old training room that Ratchet fixed up a few mega-cycles ago."

"Have you thought about..."

"No Bee I'm not talking to him. He's in one of his moods. He doesn't want to see anyone." Arcee firmly stated.

"Yeah but I thought seeing as you two have a..." Bumblebee chose his words carefully. "...history that you might be able to...?"

Arcee gave a small scoff. "Not exactly the best."

"Bulkhead said he would go but the big guy's got his hands full right now. Look, I don't know the relationship you two had in the past, but Magnus is concerned that his recent behaviour is going to cost us more than just one victory."

"Oh, so he put you up to this did he?"

"No. Well, not directly. The truth is we're all worried that Springer is going to do something dangerous sooner or later, and I know you are too."

Arcee huffed. "Fine. I'll go see him, but I'm telling you it's a waste of time."

"Thank you Arcee."

She didn't respond. Instead the small Autobot just walked down a separate corridor in silence, hunched over like a fed up human teenager.

"Ooh. You sure you should've done that?" Bumblebee looked to see Knock Out leaning against the wall next to him.

"Why not?" He asked.

"You'll see." The crimson bot smirked at him. "There is such a thing as making things worse you know."

The ex-decepticon strode down the opposite corridor that Arcee went down, leaving Bumblebee even more confused and concerned.

...

The metal door slid open to admit Knock Out into the laboratory which he shared with Ratchet. While they were both supposed to be using it Ratchet found that he spent substantially more time working in it than his counterpart.

Knock Out strode past the Autobot medic, who was busy looking at something on a computer screen. "I don't know why we bother having these meetings. We just go over the same old things. Did you know that Autobot briefings are actually more boring than Decepticon ones?"

"Why don't you tell Magnus that." Ratchet responded, not taking his optics off the screen in front of him. "Have you ever considered that perhaps the reason we won is because we planned things out more?"

"Hmm." The red bot mused before shifting his attention to the contents of Ratchet's screen. "What're you looking at?" He asked, peering over the medic's shoulder.

"Just working on a little side project." He told his accomplice quickly.

Knock Out was becoming more intrigued by the Autobot's shifty behaviour. "What are you doing with those star maps?"

"Don't you have something better to be doing Knock Out?"

The ex-con raised an optic ridge, now even more curious. "You, looking for something?" He asked. "Maybe I could help."

Ratchet scoffed. Knock Out rarely helped with anything, especially not out of the goodness of his spark. "I'm...just doing some research to help me with rebuilding the Nemesis's spacebridge."

"To bring Autobots back or are you planning on going somewhere? Or maybe..." Knock Out leaned in close to the medic's audio receptors. "...planning on going back somewhere?"

Ratchet sighed, admitting defeat. "How...?" He began.

"Oh you Autobots are easy to read. I could tell you missed that place as soon as we left. What I'm wondering is why you don't already know where it is."

"I...I lost its coordinates when the Nemesis's spacebridge was destroyed."

"Don't you know roughly where it is?"

"I could probably find it again if I looked manually, but it's lightyears away from Cybertron. That would take a very long time. This is spacebridge technology, the coordinates have to be astronomically precise."

"Well I'm no engineer so I can't help you with that. There were some ancient starmaps in a complex that Shockwave took over in the sea of rust, but it was destroyed during the war. Meaning that the only surefire way to find it again is through Shockwave."

That was never going to happen. Even if they won what was left of the war there was no way Shockwave was going to give them any information they asked for. Ratchet doubted that even a cortical psychic patch would work on its own creator. Knock Out moved to the other side of the room to work on his own interests, seeing the conversation as over.

"Knock Out." Ratchet called to him. "Promise me you won't tell anyone else about this. We've got enough to worry about as it is."

The crimson bot shrugged. "Sure. As long as I'm allowed to show the humans who's king of the road when you go back. Oh, and can you fix this rotary buffer for me?"

...

Arcee stood outside the door to the training room the same way she'd done for the past few minutes. She had no idea what to say. Why did she agree to this? Springer was one of the most stubborn people she knew there was no way an old 'friend' such as herself would be able to change his mind on anything. Maybe that's why Bulkhead didn't go either, he wouldn't be able to do anything more than she could.

Arcee moved her hand to the door controls before reflexively withdrawing. She really didn't want to go through this, but if only for the sake of proving Bumblebee she was right she must. Gritting her denta Arcee opened the door, expecting a lot of resistance.

Springer barely payed attention to her, instead continuing to tear through holographic facsimiles of Decepticons. "We need to talk." She told him sternly.

"Do we?" The Wrecker didn't stop, slashing his sword through more holograms before throwing it at the last, shattering the blue image and embedding itself in the opposite wall.

Arcee composed herself, choosing her next words carefully. "We're...I'm worried about you. You've been acting odd since the battle in Kaon." Well, more odd then usual she thought to herself. "Since you fought Blitzwing."

Springer stopped, halting his walk to the embedded sword. After a brief instance of tense silence, Springer resumed. "Yeah, well. What's it to you guys anyway. Magnus didn't so much as thank me for saving his worthless spark."

"Why don't you tell me what's wrong?" Arcee told the Wrecker, moving closer to him. "You can trust me, remember?" She placed a hand on his shoulder, trying to take a less confrontational approach.

Springer seemed to relax for a moment. He sheathed his sword, turning to face Arcee. "Can I?" Arcee's expression dropped. "Or maybe you can't trust me?"

"I want to trust you, but its not as easy as it was. You've changed Springer, and I'm not sure if its all for the better."

"Hmph. How do you know you're not the one who's changed?"

"I-I have changed, but I've learnt not to hold onto the past too much. Whatever it is, please let it go-"

"The past always matters! Just because you, Bulkhead, and the others have moved on doesn't mean the rest of us have."

"But I want to help you-"

"You can help me after I've done what I need to do."

"But-"

"This conversation is over."

The door hissed open and in stepped Drift. Seeing no point in debating with two revenge-driven bots, Arcee gave a frustrated sigh, storming out of the training room while giving each a deadly glare.

"What was that about?" Drfit asked Springer after she had gone.

"Nothing. It doesn't matter." Springer felt a strong wave of frustration wash over him. Though he didn't know if it was directed at Arcee or himself.

...

Meanwhile, thousands of lightyears away a small shuttle received an important message.

The bridge of the ship was dark, the crew having to shut down all non-essential systems due to their current shortage of fuel. A console beeped, drawing the attention of the nearest figure.

"Jetfire, Silverbolt! We're receiving a transmission!" Said the crew member excitedly.

The other two silhouettes looked to him, their bright blue eyes the only distinguishable feature in the darkness. "From who, Air Raid?" Asked one of them in a strong voice.

Air Raid looked over the console again, proclaiming excitedly. "From Cybertron!"

Not waiting for the others to respond, Air Raid immediately played the message and a familiar powerful voice boomed throughout the bridge. "This is Optimus Prime, calling all Autobot frequencies. The war is over. Megatron is no more. I invite you to join us on our now rejuvenated planet. I repeat. This is Optimus Prime calling all Autobots. The war is over. It is time to come home."

The ship was silent for a few moments, no one knowing exactly what to say. "Do you think it could be a trap?" One eventually asked cautiously.

"I've known Optimus Prime long enough to know that voice Silverbolt. There's no faking it. That's the real Prime alright." The one called Jetfire replied confidently.

"So do we go home then?" Air Raid asked, still at the console.

"We don't have enough fuel." Silverbolt told him. "We spent the last of it fleeing from Scorponok on Nebulos. We'll have to go into stasis and wait until the ship finds a place where we can refuel, or until we're found by someone else who has some spare."

"That'll take too long." Jetfire said. "We could be floating around space for eons for all we know." He paused, considering their only remaining option. "We'll have to make a quantum jump."

"But that's-"

"I know Silverbolt, but its not like we have many more alternatives. Provided we get the coordinator right, we should have just enough fuel to reach Cybertron."

Air Raid voiced his opinion. "I'm willing to take the risk, rather than stay here in stasis for terra-cycles."

"Fine. Guess I'm overruled." Silverbolt sighed. "I'll go transfer the rest of our fuel into the quantum drive. I hope this works, Jetfire."

Jetfire stood, looking into the stars as his fellow Autobots made the relevant preparations. It'll have to work if they were ever to have any hope of getting back home.

* * *

**So that was way longer than I intended but I think it turned out pretty well for the most part.****I'm going to try and get at least one more out before I go to Uni in September so keep an eye out! Though knowing me, the busier I am the more I write.****See you soon and leave a review of you can!**

**Also if anyone's down for being a Beta Reader then lmk because my work could always do with another check over before it goes live! ;)**


	20. Chapter 20: Brawl

Woo. A new chapter. And this one didn't take two months! It's a bit shorter than the last one but I hope you enjoy!

And thank you for all the reviews! ;)

* * *

Onslaught walked alongside Vortex and Swindle through the ruins of Tarn. Though the others weren't much focused on the task, their mission was to recover their final team member.

"Stop falling behind Swindle." Onslaught heard Vortex say. "It's all a bunch of worthless scrap. You're wasting your time."

Swindle, who had been periodically stopping whenever he saw something he thought might be valuable threw the item he had just picked up over his shoulder, deciding that Vortex was right and it was indeed worthless. Even if it were worth a fortune, it wouldn't do Swindle much good. Any form of currency had been pretty much rendered null and void on Cybertron since the war began.

Onslaught found his thoughts going back in time, trying to imagine this city, his city like it was. It had been a flourishing industrial state before the war, Onslaught was one of the many factory workers, forming and welding harvested materials into functional products. It wasn't as harsh as the mines of Kaon, nor as luxurious as the halls of Iacon, but he was happy and content with his life there.

When tensions began to rise between the high council and Megatron's growing group of followers, Onslaught had to pick a side. He'd seen war before, millennia before this one. But this wasn't the same as fighting off alien invaders, this time he had to battle his own race. It was something they all had to grow accustomed to in time.

One of Megatron's first moves was coordinating the bombing of Tarn, so he could blame the attack on the Autobots. It wasn't a decision that Onslaught was happy with, but he couldn't deny its tactical sense. It was a compromise he'd been barely content with at the time, he knew all about sacrifice, but now seeing the destruction centuries later, it made him realise more than the other ruins did just how far they'd gone, and for what?

He was brought back to the present by Blast Off's voice crackling through his comlink. "Onslaught, you seen any sign of him yet?"

The Combaticon leader looked to the sky to see the small shape of a Decepticon jet circle overhead. "No Blast Off, but I feel we're getting close. Maintain aerial surveillance. If you see anything, I want to know."

"Roger that Onslaught. He's a big con so it shouldn't be too hard to spot him from up here."

The call ended, and the three Combaticons on the ground continued on in the same fashion they had before. It had only been a few minutes when something big caught their interest.

"Is that..." Vortex began.

"It is." Onslaught said back. They had come across a fallen colourless statue of Shockwave. Of course. When the Decepticons took over the city, Megatron had placed Shockwave as the governor of Tarn, tasking him with forming it into a model Decepticon polity. It already was, seeing as how most of Tarn's citizens were of a lower class and eager to join the former miner's cause. But that was a long time ago, and the broken statue proved it.

Swindle was already examining the giant sculpture, scavenging for any valuable materials. "How much do you think I could-" He stopped, jerking his head away from the statue instinctively, suddenly feeling a presence in the back of his mind. The other Combaticons were all looking in the same direction he now was. "Do you feel that?" He asked them.

"Yeah." Onslaught responded. "Its Brawl, and he's close. Let's move Combaticons!"

The three of them moved to run past the statue, following their senses. They soon came to the entrance of a large arena, with crumbled doors through which an intimidating ring surrounded by raised seating could be seen.

Onslaught activated his comlink. "Blast Off, we've found him." He said with certainty, knowing that Brawl was in there somewhere.

"I hear you Onslaught. I thought I felt something when I flew over the coliseum. I'll be there in a millicycle."

After informing Blast Off, they entered the structure. It was enormous and could easily accommodate a combiner or two. The seating was not exactly minimal either, hundreds of bots could fit inside. Possibly more.

Onslaught remembered this place well. Tarn Coliseum. He used to fight in here from time to time, but only to keep his wits sharp. He was not a gladiator like Megatron. He didn't need the money to survive. It was just a nice bonus to get while maintaining his combat skill.

Trying not to slip into a stasis of nostalgia, Onslaught focused on the task at hand; finding Brawl. After concentrating for a moment, he felt drawn to a curious pile of rubble located towards the edge of the arena.

"Here's under there." He pointed to the pile for the other Combaticons.

Before they could begin to speculate on their comrade's current wellbeing, the voice of Blast Off interrupted them. "Phew. Looks like he made a big entrance." He said, poking his head through a large hole in the ceiling before jumping through, landing on his feet hundreds of metres below with a thunk. "If he's under there, then I doubt he's in good shape." Blast Off pointed to the debris pile. "Let's get that scrap off of him." The Decepticon activated his weapons, and leveled his arm at the mound, ready to fire.

"No Blast Off!" Onslaught pushed his arm downwards, away from their sleeping companion. "We can't risk blowing away the pile and injuring Brawl further, or worse."

"Tch. Fine. But moving that stuff off him is gonna take a while."

"Then we'd better get to it."

It only took a few minutes of shifting rubble before they found him, though some of them did more work than others. It wasn't long until Brawl had been nearly completely uncovered. He was a very large Decepticon, probably a similar size to Blitzwing, and had two cylindrical tank barrels protruding from his back.

"Well, looks like we found him." Swindle commented. "And he's not in bad shape either." It was true. Apart from a few scratches and dents in his dark green armour, Brawl looked surprisingly well for a bot that had fallen from orbit centuries ago.

"Onslaught?" Vortex looked to their leader, knowing what the last stage entailed.

He nodded, kneeling by the immobile Combaticon. Doing what he had done three times now Onslaught withdrew a vial of energon and injected directly into his comrade's spark chamber.

Brawl's body began to shudder, as his dormant systems came back online. His Decepticon insignia on his torso began to glow purple, and his optics opened, visor emitting a bright yellow light.

The Combaticon bolted up and roared, immediately charging at the nearest bot in his line of sight, which turned out to be Blast Off. The Decepticon flyer yelped in surprise as he was thrown to the ground by the giant, struggling against his superior strength on the floor of the arena.

"Brawl!"

Onslaught's powerful and commanding voice echoed throughout the empty building, causing the newly revived Combaticon to stop and turn. "Uhh. Onslaught?" Brawl spoke on a deep and gravelly voice. "Uh. Where am I? What happened?"

"I'll fill you in later. Now can you get off of Blast Off?"

"Oh yeah, sorry. I kinda just reacted there. Guess it was because we were Bruticus earlier." He allowed Blast Off to stand, who didn't seem too happy about the whole situation. "Wait, weren't we fighting in space? How come we're separate now? I don't remember us coming apart." Brawl scratched his head in confusion.

"We're back on Cybertron Brawl, and that battle ended long ago. Don't worry though, there's plenty more fighting to come."

"Doesn't sound too bad to me as long there's still Autobots I can crush!"

With their final member recovered, the Combaticons now have the capability to turn into the monstrous juggernaut that struck fear into the sparks of countless Autobots: Bruticus.

* * *

So all the Combaticons are finally together. Will they now be able to crush the Autobots once and for all? Find out next time!

Also, I hope this plotline didn't feel dragged out too much. The "hunt for the Combaticons" arc is over. So things should escalate from here on out.


End file.
